The “third arrow” of Abenomics, the plan of Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, to pull the country out of its long slump was announced on June the 5th amidst great expectations.
On the 4th of April, the first arrow fired, came in the form of a monetary revolution at "Bankers' Bank', when the institutions's new governor, Mr Kuroda Haruhiko, vowed to end deflation by causing a superfluous flow of money into the economy.
The second arrow was a fiscal stimulus package to the tune of about {Yen}10.3 trillion ($116 billion). The much awaited growth strategy however is the most important of the three arrows, because its aim is not just to buffer but to fire-up and keep Japan’s long-term economic performance running at a remarkable pace.
Although, When the announcement was made a great deal of people were disappointed, because they felt it did not pack enough power. I for one wasn't ! I have come to understand after studying Mr. Abe for a while that he is caring and worried about the effect of his government's policies on the common man.
I believe that the idea of releasing a watered down version of his intention was to enable him gauge how far the masses are willing to go and how much they are willing to sacrifice to put the ship of state on a steady upward bound economic course.
Haven seen that people were and are willing to go the full course to set things straight Mr. Abe pulled out the full menu of the main course of the "Third Arrow".
It is no wonder that to help design the strategy, Mr Abe had convened a series of reform committees, particularly the Headquarters for Japan’s Economic Revitalisation inside his own Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and the Industrial Competitiveness Council (ICC). He invited onto these committees private-sector business people, economists and proponents of reform, and of-course Mr. Heizo Takenaka, the former right-hand man of Junichiro Koizumi.
Reformers had hoped that the committees would tackle is Japan’s labour market. They even proposed bold suggestions for the economy, the agricultural sector and the labour market stating that firms should be able to fire employees with severance pay. Agriculture is in dire need of reform as Japan enters negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in July. It was also proposed that companies be allowed to buy farmland because most farmers farm on plots and on a part-time basis and are therefore not competitive.
So far, Mr. Abe has done an excellent job of keeping the ship of state afloat. Yes, a lot of promises have been made and a lot is being done to fulfill those promises, however, the onus is on the people to stand strong on support of Mr. Abe to set the ship aright, afloat and on the right course. Too much politics has been played with the state of the economy and economic reforms.
Japan is a land full of opportunities, potentials and possibilities which can be actualized if politics doesn't get in the way. Being in the opposition party shouldn't mean that all ideas from the ruling party must be opposed even when they are the right ones and make sound logic.
As, Mr. Abe goes on with this program "日本を取り戻そう" I strongly believe that everyone should support the efforts of the government but should also not forget to ask questions, "especially the right questions".