Japan's economy has picked up, despite being affected by factors such as past high commodity prices. Regarding the outlook, the materialization of pent-up demand, relatively high wage increases, and other factors are expected to underpin consumption. In addition, active business fixed investment is likely to continue. When considering the outlook for Japan's economy, the strength of these developments is important. • The domestic economy has been resilient on the whole. Although firms' appetite for business fixed investment has been maintained, private consumption has seen relatively low growth recently. This seems ... (full story)