Though Mr Yosano, the chief secretary, is a firm advocate of raising the consumption tax to plug Japan's budget deficits and pay for future pensions, Mr Abe appears in no mood to launch such a debate.

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The automaker had planned to sell between 35, 000 and 40, 000 Prius plug-in hybrids in Japan this year, but by September had sold only 8, 400, about 20 percent of its target.

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Even now, a decade into Japan's downturn, banks are reluctant to pull the plug on such borrowers.

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On the economy, the differences among candidates turn on whether a rise in the consumption tax is needed to plug a gaping budget deficit and bring down the high levels of debt incurred when Japan tried to spend its way out of slump in the 1990s.

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