"The brokers tend to push Japan because they have an infrastructure they have to support."

If they raised borrowing costs too soon, they risked snuffing out growth and pushing Japan back into recession.

The strong yen has already pushed Japan back into deflation, and fresh recession.

The test appears likely to push Japan further down a nationalist path.

He would not be pushing Japan as hard if the Nikkei index were suddenly back at 20,000.

Consumption accounts for more than half of the economy and its recent weakness helped push Japan into recession.

"It will slow growth and perhaps push Japan into a second lost decade."

The United States has pushed Japan, however, to stimulate its economy to spur spending and imports.

The United States has been pushing Japan and Germany for months to ease interest rates.

Some analysts have feared that a sudden slowdown in exports could push Japan back into recession after more than a year of recovery.