The coming of Abegeddon

Until Christmas, Shinzo Abe's eponymous Abenomics programme to rescue Japan from decades of deflation and low growth was an important success, according to most economic commentators. Among their ranks were the International Monetary Fund, investors on the Tokyo stock market, who took it to a six-year high and 55 per cent gain in 2013, and Japan hedge fund investors, who were the world's best performers.

But on December 26 - on the first anniversary of taking over as prime minister - Abe in a fit of hubris or nationalistic fervour visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine where war criminals are honoured along with 2.4 million ordinary Japanese war dead.

In the space of an hour Abe changed the economic and political equation - from Abenomics to the risk of Abegeddon. He sparked a new verbal war with Japan's neighbours, but with his visit he risked something hotter that could cause his economic programme to crash in flames.

Respected former diplomat and commentator Kishore Mahbubani declared that Japan and China "seem locked in an irreversible, dangerous downward spiral", in an article published by Bloomberg.

Among the concerns arising from the shrine visit is that Abe has taken his eye off the economic goals that should be his priority. In spite of the successes of the first year of Abenomics, there are big challenges ahead.

The stock market rose sharply, in tune with the weakening yen, which has fallen to five-year lows of 105 against the US dollar, helped along by the Bank of Japan's determined quantitative easing to haul Japan out of deflation. This policy also seemed to be succeeding, with the core consumer price index for November showing inflation of 1.2 per cent.