In fact, Japan's inflation in the previous year did have an “imported” factor — due to geopolitics, commodity prices such as crude oil rose. For a country like Japan that is highly dependent on imports for energy, food, and raw materials, domestic prices will naturally be boosted. However, commodity prices fell in the midst of turbulence in 2025, and Japan's inflation remained high. Obviously, the problem came more domestically. It is impossible for the Takaichi Sanae government not to see this change, but the path she chose was through expansionary fiscal policies such as disbursing money, to make the public feel that the burden has not increased significantly in the short term, as if purchasing power has been maintained. This is essentially still “stealing the bell.” △ Takaichi Sanae's fiscal policy will backfire; this has basically become an international consensus. This led to an embarrassing situation. The Bank of Japan's monetary policy was intended to cool down inflation, but the effect was largely “offset” by the fiscal policy promoted by Sanae Takaichi. Although Takaichi Sanae's act of drinking to quench her thirst fulfilled her campaign promise, it pushed Japan's inflation problem to a more unmanageable situation. The logical chain behind Takaichi Sanae's series of words and actions is already very clear: First, structural problems in the domestic economy cannot be solved, and growth has stalled. Second, large-scale fiscal stimulus was introduced; as a result, the bond market was frightened and risks were raised. Third, policies introduced from different starting points fight with each other, leaving problems that need to be solved unresolved. The stubbornness of right-wing politicians such as Sanae Takaichi is in stark contrast to the weakness of the Japanese economy, making their scandals even more hopeless.

In fact, Japan's inflation in the previous year did have an “imported” factor — due to geopolitics, commodity prices such as crude oil rose. For a country like Japan that is highly dependent on imports for energy, food, and raw materials, domestic prices will naturally be boosted. However, commodity prices fell in the midst of turbulence in 2025, and Japan's inflation remained high. Obviously, the problem came more domestically. It is impossible for the Takaichi Sanae government not to see this change, but the path she chose was through expansionary fiscal policies such as disbursing money, to make the public feel that the burden has not increased significantly in the short term, as if purchasing power has been maintained. This is essentially still “stealing the bell.” △ Takaichi Sanae's fiscal policy will backfire; this has basically become an international consensus. This led to an embarrassing situation. The Bank of Japan's monetary policy was intended to cool down inflation, but the effect was largely “offset” by the fiscal policy promoted by Sanae Takaichi. Although Takaichi Sanae's act of drinking to quench her thirst fulfilled her campaign promise, it pushed Japan's inflation problem to a more unmanageable situation. The logical chain behind Takaichi Sanae's series of words and actions is already very clear: First, structural problems in the domestic economy cannot be solved, and growth has stalled. Second, large-scale fiscal stimulus was introduced; as a result, the bond market was frightened and risks were raised. Third, policies introduced from different starting points fight with each other, leaving problems that need to be solved unresolved. The stubbornness of right-wing politicians such as Sanae Takaichi is in stark contrast to the weakness of the Japanese economy, making their scandals even more hopeless.