Low growth may undermine Abe's policy promises

Subject

The Abe government's economic policies.

Significance

The passage of unpopular defence legislation overshadowed the Abe government for most of 2015 and caused its popularity to sink to record lows. Now, ahead of an upper house election in July this year, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sought to return attention to economic policy -- the source of his government's original popularity. His 'three new arrows' of Abenomics indicate a reconsideration of the government's economic policy priorities.

Impacts

• The government will increasingly focus on specific demography-related problems, setting numerical targets to make achievements visible.
• Raising fertility and preventing depopulation will emerge as the major strategic goals for any Japanese cabinet for decades to come.
• Immigration on a large enough scale to address demographic pressures has negligible public support and is not seriously considered.