The cause of this has been the new direction set by Prime Minister Abe and his economic policy course known as Abenomics.
Having come to power at the end of 2012, 2013 saw a sharp boost to public investment spending financed by government borrowing.
There was also a change at the top of the Bank of Japan and a subsequent programme of QE that was even larger, in relation to the size of the economy, than that undertaken by the Federal Reserve.
The purpose was to boost growth and inflation expectations in the economy so that companies and households would feel emboldened to spend, thus getting the economy moving and enabling the government to begin to raise taxes so that the large structural budget deficit could be reduced.
