Japan’s struggle to escape deflation has been persistently undermined by media and political forces that welcome economic stagnation.
The Asahi Shimbun and left-leaning parties have repeatedly framed policy setbacks as cause for celebration rather than concern.

2016-04-04
The following is taken from page three of today’s Nikkei.
Anyone who reads this article will recognize that Japan’s deflation—despised like a plague by countries around the world—must be eliminated to save both Japan and the global economy.
Yet the Abe administration, which has finally begun implementing the necessary policies with that resolve, has been relentlessly disparaged and undermined by the Asahi Shimbun and TV Asahi, shaping persistently negative public opinion.
Initially, the yen weakened and stock prices rose, and the core consumer price index climbed to the mid–1 percent range.
However, falling oil prices and a slowdown in China’s economy spread fears that the global economy was losing its growth engine.
The United States was forced to slow the pace of interest rate hikes, placing a brake on yen depreciation, which had been described as “the main transmission channel of unprecedented monetary easing.”
It is a well-known fact that the Asahi Shimbun and TV Asahi reported these developments with evident delight.
The Bank of Japan’s Tankan survey showed that sentiment among large manufacturing firms reverted to levels seen immediately after the introduction of unprecedented easing.
Deterioration spread to nonmanufacturers and small businesses, raising concerns even about domestic demand.
And those who welcome this situation are the Asahi Shimbun, along with the Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Japanese Communist Party.
Anyone possessing natural patriotism and concern for humanity and the world would wish for the Bank of Japan and the government to continue bold policies, defeat deflation, and enable Japan—a nation where the turntable of civilization is turning—to lead the world alongside the United States.
Yet there exist political parties and newspapers that seek to sabotage every such attempt through childish labeling and staged demonstrations that exaggerate small numbers into apparent masses.
So long as parties seemingly longing only for one-party rule, and newspapers that amount to nothing more than national betrayers, dominate public discourse,
there will be no prosperity for Japan, nor for the world.
What awaits instead is nothing but ruin.