The package of measures to boost Japan's sagging share prices that was unveiled Friday by the ruling coalition may not be a perfect remedy, but it has brought a sense of relief to concerned analysts and market watchers.
In the course of three weeks of intensive discussions by the tripartite task force -- comprising members of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and New Conservative Party -- some forcible price-keeping measures, such as pumping public money into the market, had emerged but found no place in the interim report.
Instead, the report calls for lifting restrictions on companies from buying and selling their own shares as so-called treasury stocks without having to cancel them. It also calls for decreasing the minimum volume for investors to purchase shares and the speedy passage of legislation to allow 401k or ESOP (employee stock ownership plan)-type pension plans.