Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might have avoided the nightmare he foresaw a year ago. But the market is reserving judgment on his growth strategy, questioning whether his deflation-fighting ¡°Abenomics¡± policy will succeed in the long term after all.

Abe¡¯s growth strategy is a plethora of deregulation steps and subsidies aimed at raising Japan¡¯s economic growth potential, including a corporate tax cut, steps to help working women, the introduction of more foreign workers and the creation of a better business environment to attract foreign investors and entrepreneurs.

When he formally unveiled on Monday a draft of the revised version of his growth strategy ¡ª the so-called third arrow of his three economic weapons ¡ª the Nikkei stock average closed down ?164.55, or 1.08 percent from the previous day.