Takaichi Landslide today — Japan National Champions tomorrow

Whoa — landslide indeed — Takaichi now has the LDP and the technocrats exactly where she always wanted them: the LDP is now beholden to her ; and the elite technocrats now know she’ll be in power for at least two or three more years….so they have no choice but to invest their career in her success.

What will she do with all this power? Watch for more state-directed initiatives to create “national champions”, levering the $550 U.S.-Japan investment deal to create a sense of urgency amongst reluctant CEOs — Japan’s M&A boom will get turbo-charged to create greater economies of scale, and thus more credible global competitiveness — all this in the name of higher national economic security (and no, these forced public private partnerships do not force new JGB issuance….more on this soon & many cheers ;-j