Taking up arms

摘要

The announcement on November 18th by Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, that he was calling a snap general election was made to sound a bold one. The poll would in effect be a referendum on postponing a planned second rise in the consumption tax, Mr Abe declared-as if to show that he was defying his country's fiscal hawks. He also urged citizens to use their vote to show what they thought of his reform policies, commonly known as Abe-nomics, which he has presented as Japan's only means of ending years of stagnation.