Much of the motivation for Abenomics, Japan’s bold gambit to breathe life into its economy, comes courtesy of Beijing. It was fear of a rising, more assertive China that led the Liberal Democratic party to turn to the jingoistic Shinzo Abe in the first place and convinced many Japanese to hold their nose and vote for him. It was the same conviction that persuaded Mr Abe himself that something had to be done to rid the country of 15 years of deflation and to build a prosperous country capable of defending its interests. For a while Mr Abe, a revisionist who thinks Japan has been unfairly singled out for criticism about wartime atrocities, concentrated on getting his economic plan up and running. Now, more than a year into a premiership likely to last at least until 2016, he is pushing his nationalist agenda more forcefully – with some worrying implications for Japanese democracy.
作爲爲使本國經濟煥發活力而展開的一場豪賭，「安倍經濟學」(Abenomics)的動力在很大程度上是拜中國所賜。正是由於擔心不斷崛起且日漸強硬的中國，日本自民黨(LDP)才先是請奉行極端愛國主義的安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)出山，後又說服許多日本人勉強投票給他。也正是同樣的擔心使得安倍本人相信，必須採取措施終結日本長達15年的通縮，並打造一個有能力捍衛自身利益的繁榮國家。作爲一個歷史修正主義者，安倍認爲日本受到了不公平的對待：儘管有過戰時暴行的不止是日本一個國家，但日本卻被單擇出來受到責難。一段時間裏，安倍曾將精力集中於啓動和推進他的經濟計劃。如今，他擔任本屆日本首相已逾一年，而且很可能至少在2016年前都不會下臺。此時此刻，他開始更強有力地推進自己的民族主義議程，此舉給日本的民主帶來一些隱憂。