Ishiba trying to shore up support ahead of election

PM Ishiba has signaled that this year’s supplementary budget will be larger than last year’s. That’s largely motivated by concerns that the LDP won’t do well in next week’s Lower House elections, whereas the economic case for a fiscal expansion is weak. Meanwhile, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation indicated this week that it will seek another large pay hike in next year’s spring wage negotiations. Unfortunately, those preliminary wage requests have not been a reliable guide to Shunto outcomes over the last couple of years and we’ll therefore have to wait for the actual negotiations to kick off in March.