[Siberian Fox]

Japan elections: Shares rise and yen weakens on Abe win

Japanese shares rose and the yen dipped after the Liberal Democratic Party, led by Shinzo Abe, won Japan's general elections.

The Nikkei 225 index rose 1% and the Japanese currency fell to a 20-month low of 84.48 yen against the US dollar.

Mr Abe has said he will implement measures to help revive the world's third-largest economy, which has been battling years of sluggish growth.

He has also promised to take steps to weaken the yen and fight deflation.

"The Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) big victory is in line with market expectations and it will help to keep the yen weak and share prices high, at least for now," said Kyohei Morita, chief economist at Barclays Securities Japan.

[...]

Japan's Abe says party 'must achieve results' after poll win

Shinzo Abe says his party must "move forward and achieve results" following its landslide election victory.

The conservative Liberal Democratic Party won almost 300 seats and, with its coalition partner, looks set for a two-thirds majority in the lower house.

The governing Democratic Party suffered major losses in Sunday's polls, with leader Yoshihiko Noda stepping down.

On course to be Japan's seventh PM in as many years, Mr Abe faces tough decisions on the economy and China.

He said his party understood its "heavy responsibility".

"Our victory this time does not mean trust in the Liberal Democratic Party has been completely restored," he told a news conference on Monday.

[...]

If 10 years of PoFo has taught me anything it's that as soon as the forum banner is updated, Japan can be relied upon to make it obsolete again.

So, back to the same old LDP, but how long will Abe last if he tries to restart the nuclear industry? Will he just become the party's scapegoat if there is a popular backlash? Also, is anyone willing or able to put odds on the chances of the Japanese constitution being changed under his government, or is re-militarisation all just tough talk?

[Rei Murasame]

Yes, you are going to have to put Shinzo Abe back onto the banner again.

Regarding the military issue, I think the idea has managed to pass the lower and upper houses previously, in 2007. Just at that time for some reason they did not finish the process by putting it to a referendum and so no change was made at that time.

This time around though, I think the odds are greater than before that they will really follow through with repealing Article 9, since the situation - with China and North Korea and the territorial disputes with Russia - mean that there has really never been a better time to bring the issue up than now. If they don't follow through with actual re-militarisation, they'll probably be spat upon, and surely Abe is worried now about his legacy since he's getting quite old.



At 58 years old, he is beginning to look a bit undead though, but being a career politician will do that to you, apparently.