Despite experiencing the longest streak of growth in 16 years, Japan's economic picture remains mixed, with increased exports led by robust overseas demand driving the growth amid weak consumer spending. Major companies expect to earn record profits for the second year in a row, and share prices in the Tokyo Stock Exchange have hit a post-bubble boom high. But even as the labor market is the tightest in 40 years, wage hikes remain low and growth in personal consumption is stagnant. To achieve more self-sustained growth, the government needs to explore further policy steps to spur domestic demand, and businesses are urged to translate more of their profits into higher wages.

The 1.4 percent annualized real-term growth of the nation's gross domestic product in the July-September period over the previous three-month period marked the seventh quarter of growth in a row — the longest streak since the GDP expanded for eight straight quarters between 1999 and 2001. Personal consumption, which accounts for 60 percent of the GDP, dipped 0.5 percent for the first decline in seven quarters, but a 1.5 percent increase in exports, led by the brisk shipment of automobiles and electronics parts to the U.S. and Asian markets, shored up the economy. Domestic demand as a whole, however, pushed down the GDP by 0.2 percent. Growth decelerated from the 2.6 percent increase in the April-June period.

The current cycle of economic expansion, which began just as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to the government's helm in December 2012, is believed to be the second-longest boom in Japan's postwar history — surpassing the 57-month Izanagi boom from 1965 to 1970 — and it appears set to continue even longer. But the average annual growth during the current cycle stands at 1.4 percent — much lower than in past booms like the asset-inflated bubble boom through the early 1990s. GDP data for the July-September period appears to mirror such a not-so-robust state of growth.