Japan's next leader: Higher wages cure for pandemic doldrums

Japan's next prime minister says he believes raising incomes is the only way to get the world's third-largest economy growing again

MITO, Japan -- Fumio Kishida, the man soon to become Japan’s prime minister, says he believes raising incomes is the only way to get the world’s third-largest economy growing again.

Nearly a decade after long-serving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to “make Japan great again,” Japan is in a holding pattern, stalled both by the pandemic and by chronic problems such as an aging and shrinking population, growing inequality and stagnant incomes.

Topping Kishida’s to-do list is another big dose of government spending to help Japan recover from the COVID-19 shock.

Kishida says he wants to promote a “new capitalism” that would be more equitable, with fairer distribution of national wealth — the only way to get frugal Japanese families to spend more.