Has Abenomics solved Japan's economic problems?

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bold economic stimulus plan, known as "Abenomics," has triggered a wave of optimism. Last week, the government reported that the country's $5 trillion economy enjoyed a growth spurt in the first quarter, expanding at an annualized rate of 3.5 percent. Sony, the beleaguered electronics powerhouse, returned to profit for the first time in five years, and the Nikkei stock average rose above 15,000 for the first time. Has Abenomics cured Japan's financial ills?

Abenomics has a hefty price tag — $1.02 trillion a year, with the government borrowing nearly 50 percent of every dollar its spends. And the aggressive attempt to boost Japan's economy has yielded results pretty quickly. Martin Fackler notes at The New York Times that Abe has injected Japanese consumers, especially wealthy ones, with a newfound exuberance. At a Tokyo financial district department store recently, $20,000 watches were flying off the shelves, and Fackler says Abenomics gets the credit for shoppers' willingness to spend.

But will it last? The quick payoff from Abenomics might help Abe gain strength ahead of elections scheduled for July, say the editors of the Financial Times, but it's probably just a sugar rush that won't turn around Japan's sickly economy in the long term.

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The bag of policies known as Abenomics, however, might only be the beginning. Anatole Kaletsky at Reuters points out that if the current plan does help Abe win a majority in the upper house of Japan's parliament, the Diet, he'll have newfound power to steamroll opposition and push through at least some of the structural reforms — such as greater international competition, higher female labor participation, employment deregulation, lower energy prices, and corporate taxation — needed to push the Japanese economy to the next level.