Japan's economy is still recovering so Abe shouldn't overreach

JAPAN'S economy is rather like the proverbial duck that appears to glide effortlessly across a pond while paddling furiously beneath the surface to maintain momentum. It is a valid question to ask how long this sleight of hand (or foot in this case) can continue.

The impression of smooth sailing is given mainly by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who seems forever to be promoting the idea of a "new Japan", or at least a "Japan that is back", and one that is up with the best in everything from economic management to diplomatic and military capability. But it is well to remember the words of Frederick the Great that "an army marches on its stomach" when considering how far Japan can afford to project its presence and power overseas. Japan's economic "stomach" has a rather hollow rumble to it nowadays rather than a sound of being satiated.

Mr Abe and Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda admittedly deserve credit for their bold and imaginative efforts to get the world's third-largest economy moving again after some two decades of stagnation and deflation. It is odd, however, that at a time when Japan's economy is still convalescent, Mr Abe should be promoting increased overseas military projection by Japan, promising billions of yen in infrastructure aid to Asia, and pushing grandiose plans for the 2020 Olympic Games and other public investments. The government is deeply in debt, in an amount equivalent to more than twice gross domestic product. Even Taro Kono, a leading member of Mr Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition and who is tasked with finding ways to balance the budget, is calling for legal caps on government spending.