Prime Minister Shinzo Abe evokes the late Margaret Thatcher as he repeats ¡°there is no alternative¡± to his platform of economic change. One of the byproducts: prospects for a Thatcher-type division of wealth.
Tomoko Kawamura, 33, a pharmaceutical industry worker in Tokyo, bought a Louis Garneau bicycle costing about ?50,000 and a MacBook Air laptop with proceeds from stock investments this year. She owns a one-bedroom apartment in Tokyo¡¯s well-heeled Meguro district. In Ehime Prefecture, 800 km to the southwest, Miyoko Yamazaki, 81, is struggling to cover the rising cost of gasoline for her regular hospital trips.
¡°Prices are going up, making our lives tougher,¡± said Yamazaki, a retired taxi driver who doesn¡¯t hold stocks or property. ¡°I don¡¯t really feel that the economy is booming.¡± In a restaurant on the 20th floor of a building with views over central Tokyo, Kawamura tells it differently: ¡°I¡¯m enjoying the benefits of ¡®Abenomics.¡¯ ¡±
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