…Japanese hedge funds swung from the world’s worst performers in 2012 to the best as the central bank’s reflation efforts put the benchmark Topix index on course for the biggest increase in 14 years and weakened the yen by 17 percent versus the dollar. Assets at the Japan-focused funds tracked by Eurekahedge increased $451 million in the second half of 2013, the most since the six months ended August 2011.

“Japan has come full circle for a lot of investors,” said David Baran, co-chief executive officer of Tokyo-based Symphony Financial Partners. “Many investors felt that all Japanese companies were bad investments, which was patently inaccurate. Those investors who have dismissed Japan have been motivated to come back to the market by Abenomics.”…

“The current system is so unproductive that it’s hurting the nation as a whole,” said Robert Feldman, head of Japan economic research at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co. “The price of some agricultural goods is higher than it should be. Changing the agricultural laws is a good way to promote the conversion of land to more efficient use.”…

the heart of the battle is the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives group, or the JA, which has unique powers to finance and insure farms, supply them with equipment and fertilizers and buy their produce…

Under the control of the JA, Japan’s area under cultivation has fallen 25 percent in the past five decades. Farm-gate prices in the country are twice the world average, the OECD estimates. Agriculture’s share of gross domestic product dropped to less than 1 percent in 2011, from 9 percent in 1960, according to the government. “In the absence of fundamental reform, the agricultural sector will continue to wither, trapped in a cycle of low productivity, low earnings and dependence on subsidies and import protection,” OECD economists Randall Jones and Shingo Kimura wrote in a May report…

A survey by the Ministry of Agriculture that year showed that almost nine out of ten farmers were over 50 and more than half of farming households saw it as a side business.

Abe aims to change that.

“Agriculture is the most difficult sector to reform,” Abe, 59, said in a Dec. 6 interview in Tokyo, adding that policy makers are making progress.

Parliament passed a bill this month designed to reduce the amount of idle land and consolidate farms so they can be leased to managers who will boost productivity. The law will “enable farmland to be consolidated and taken over by those who are really motivated,” Abe said…

A separate bill passed by parliament will introduce credit insurance, enabling farmers to borrow from banks and weakening the traditional co-operatives’ dominance in agricultural financing.

The government on Nov. 26 approved a plan to end a four-decade policy of paying rice farmers to reduce their production to support prices. The “gentan” subsidy is scheduled to be halved from April 2014 and abolished by March 31, 2019…

Advocates say these reforms would spur hiring and create opportunity for women and younger workers more likely to be stuck in lower-paid contract jobs without legal protection.

"We need to move away from this notion of lifetime employment. That means all the Japanese individuals should be more independent," said Hiroshi Mikitani, chief executive of internet shopping firm Rakuten Inc and a member of an industrial competitiveness panel that advised Abe on economic reforms…

…In Tokyo Metropolitan Area:

The average price of new condominium units soared by 9.2% y-o-y to JPY686,000 (US$6,931) per square metre (sq. m.) in June 2013, based on figures released by the Land Institute of Japan (LIJ).

The average price of existing condominium units rose by 5.9% to JPY399,700 (US$4,039) per sq. m. during the year to June 2013.

The average price of existing detached houses was up by 1.5% to JPY32,130,000 (US$324,644) over the same period.

In Osaka Metropolitan Area:

The average price of new condominium units rose by 8.8% to JPY542,000 (US$5,476) per sq. m. during the year to June 2013.

The average price of existing condominium units increased by 5% to JPY250,000 (US$2,526) per sq. m. over the same period.

The average price of existing detached houses was down by just 0.5% to JPY20,000,000 (US$202,081) over the same period.

Land prices are also rising. During the year to June 2013, the average price of land in Tokyo Metropolitan Area rose by 5.2% to JPY204,500 (US$2,066) per sq. m., while in Osaka Metropolitan Area the average land price increased by 2.3% to JPY132,000 (US$1,334) per sq. m…

…Japan’s financial system is now in excellent shape. During Junichiro Koizumi’s prime ministership (2001 to 2006) tighter asset assessments of major banks caused a large decline in NPLs, from 8.7% of total loans in March 2002, to 1.4% in March 2008, according to the Financial Services Agency (FSA). Lending competition has also intensified, especially in metropolitan areas. Net result: housing loan costs have fallen…

…The Japanese economy is projected to grow robustly in the coming years mainly due to the economic policies advocated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who came into power in December 2012. These economic policies, which are now widely referred to as “Abenomics”, include the following:

Inflation targeting at 2%

Correction of the excessive appreciation of the yen

Setting negative interest rates

Radical quantitative easing

Expansion of public investment

Buying operations of construction bonds by Bank of Japan

Revision of the Bank of Japan Act

Japan 73.1

United States 42.1

West Germany 49.1

France 52.3

Netherlands 43.8

Switzerland 42.1