This Tuesday report will provide some insights into life for a westerner (me) who is working for an extended period at Kyoto University in Japan but who over the years of working here has increasingly began to understand the language and local cultural traditions
This will be a series of blog posts where I analysis the period ahead for Japan under the new LDP leadership of Ms Sanae Takaichi. The motivation is that on November 7, 2025, the research group I am working with at Kyoto University will be staging a major event at the Diet (Parliament) Building in Tokyo where I will be one of the keynote speakers. The strategic intent of the event is to outline a new policy agenda to meet the challenges that Japan is facing in the immediate period and the years to come. It is highly likely that the Lab Director here at Kyoto, who promotes and Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) perspective and was formerly the special advisor to the Shinzo Abe, will return to that position under Ms Takaichi. This gives the event increased importance for outlining an Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)-based perspective. Today, I examine the inflation issue in Japan.
Unfortunately, the so-called progressive UK Guardian has an Australian economics editor who is anything but if his economic analysis is anything to go by. The economic news for this week started with the release of the – Final Budget Outcome – (FBO) for the 2024-25 fiscal year for the Federal government (released September 29, 2025). It showed the actual fiscal deficit for the year just gone was slightly lower than had been predicted in earlier official statements. The government celebrated claiming a lower deficit was a sign not only of its good management but was also virtuous. The journalists, however, had a different spin, claiming that while the situation could have been worse, it was still bad. The discussion in the media and the official statement from the Treasurer seemed to omit one rather important fact. The context. This allows us to understand the distinction between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fiscal deficits, a distinction that the commentariat seems unable to grasp. Anyway, this UK Guardian article is my current number one candidate for the worst economics article of the year. Why discuss it? Because it helps illustrate the essentials of macroeconomics that people need to understand.