Back to the futureShinzo Abe’s appointment of a scarily right-wing cabinet bodes ill for the region ON DECEMBER 26th the new prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, unveiled his cabinet. Mr Abe, an arch-nationalist, promises to focus on turning round an economy enduring its third recession in five years. He says he has learnt from his disastrous first term as prime minister, in 2006-07, when economic
![Back to the future](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/ab991c51c0405f88b11a3506da189249b8c9665c/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fimg%2Fb%2F595%2F335%2F90%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Fprint-edition%2F20130105_ASP001_0.jpg)