First, let’s take a look at the underlying fundamentals. For the past decade, deflation and low inflation has plagued Japan. Efforts to tackle the situation have fallen short of efficacy, and many analysts predicted another decade of stagnant economic conditions. That was however, before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came into power at the end of 2012. His “shock and awe” style monetary policy consisting of fiscal stimulus, monetary easing and structural reforms has seen the central bank buy up approximately Y80T worth of assets since the start of last year, and is in line to swell Japan’s balance sheet to Y270T before ... (full story)