IT IS rare in Japan for politicians to say anything meaningful enough to move markets. But in the space of a few days, Shinzo Abe, who is leading in opinion polls to become Japan’s next prime minister, has spoken so provocatively about monetary policy that it has sent the stockmarket, currency and bond markets into spasms of hope and fear. So effective has been his intervention that on November 20th, Masaaki Shirakawa, the governor of the Bank of Japan (pictured), launched what looked like a counter-attack to defend the bank’s independence.
