On Sunday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will find out whether his mandate to end the country's economic stagnation will push through. The mandate was part 3 of his "Abenomics" policy. Abenomics prescribed a "hyper-easy" monetary policy, growth-promoting steps, and big spending.

However, a senior advisor for Eurasia Group and former bureaucrat, Jun Okumura, argued, "What's required is the kind of thorough-going reform that Mr. Abe doesn't seem to have the vision or stomach for." Agrarian reform, a shift to growth sectors, corporate tax rate cuts, easing of immigration barriers, and labor market measures for easier exit of loss-making firms were the kind of reforms critics were looking forward to.

The International Monetary Fund, which cautiously said OK to Abe's policy, also warned of the downside risks if the country does not enact structural reforms as well as cut its debt. Japan's debt now became double the size of its economy of US$5 trillion.