Japan’s high-spending legacy – BBC News

The roof belongs to Mrs Motoyoshi, a young housewife with a one-year-old baby, Ko Chan. The panels should be costing Mrs Motoyoshi $25,000 (£16,000). But in Tokyo up to half that cost is covered by government subsidies.

“I wanted to get solar power, so when I heard the government subsidies may be coming to an end I decided I must get the panels now,” she says.

This is all part of the Japanese government’s latest plan to get people here to spend, and it works.

Hideharu Terasawa is an affable salesman who runs his own small electrical goods store in northern Tokyo. The last few years have been tough for him. The one bright spot is solar panels.

“It’s the difference between zero and 10,” he says. “With no subsidies there would be no business. I don’t know how I’ll sell any when the subsidies end.”

So it is good for Mrs Motoyoshi and for Mr Terasawa. But perhaps not so good for Mrs Motoyoshi’s baby son Ko Chan. A one-year-old, he already owes $100,000 – his share of Japan’s national debt.