TOKYO — Japan’s latest recession was as short as it was unexpected.
The Japanese economy, the world’s third-largest, started expanding again at the end of 2014, government data showed Monday, after a painful midyear slump that had raised doubts about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to rekindle growth and end entrenched deflation.
The latest in what seem like countless Japanese downturns — there have been six since 1997 — lasted just two quarters, the shortest technical definition of a recession. Yet the return to growth was more tepid than experts had predicted and may fail to erase concerns that the economy remains fundamentally fragile, despite Mr. Abe’s two-year stimulus campaign.
“The economy has escaped the worst phase and is recovering, but the pace is likely to remain extremely slow,” said Yasunari Ueno, an economist at Mizuho Securities, a Japanese brokerage firm.
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Competing visions for Japan’s economic future were on display in Parliament on Monday in an exchange between Mr. Abe and Katsuya Okada, leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. “I want to do my utmost to move toward a society where effort is rewarded,” Mr. Abe said when challenged by Mr. Okada about the effects of Abenomics on equality.
Mr. Okada replied: “The biggest problem with the government’s economic policies is that there is no consideration of how the fruits of growth will be distributed.”
A version of this article appears in print on February 17, 2015, in The International New York Times. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
