Two years after Japan 's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled his plan to finally break the country 's economy free from more than 20 years of under-performance , the much-hoped-for renaissance has not filtered down to everyone . Standing near a 100-meter long queue for lottery tickets in Tokyo 's wealthy Ginza district , 34-year-old nurse Mihoko Aoki is still waiting for proof that it is working . `` I hear that Abenomics is bringing merit to big companies , but for small companies like my husband 's one , there is no benefit , '' she says . `` And for me as a nurse there are no benefits either . '' There are changes but , for her , not good ones . She notes that the price of food has gone `` up and up '' over the past year and that life for her is starting to get tight . `` I wish that Abenomics would bring my quality of life up , because at the moment it 's just the rich people who are getting the benefits . '' A 78-year-old man standing nearby , who would only give his name as Mr. Hirano , agreed . `` They say that employment is getting better , but all I see is the price of things going up , and that is hurting me . '' But rising prices is actually one of the key targets of Abenomics . After more than a decade of deflation , where prices fell and consumers held back from spending in the hope they would fall further , a combination of pumping money through the system and cutting the value of the yen which makes imports more expensive , is having the desired affect . READ MORE : Abe 's election gamble puts policies on the line . Japanese are getting out and spending more and prices are rising . Or at least they were -- until a new consumption tax was introduced in April which not only stopped spending in its tracks , but sent the economy into recession . To be fair , the tax was a hangover from a previous government , but Abe 's Liberal Democratic Party did support it . But there are still plenty of winners from Abenomics . Shuhei Yeda is a 37-year-old construction company employee . He says that his salary is up 3 % this year and he is now getting fat bonuses as a result of the government-backed boom in construction . `` I am getting a big boost from Abenomics . We do n't have enough people for all the work , '' he says . Certainly , the unemployment rate in Japan is the envy of the developed world at under 3 % . Companies are on a hiring spree as the yen weakens and exports become more competitive . At home , the service industry is also booming . According to JP Morgan 's managing director and head of research , Jesper Koll , 130,000 jobs a month have been created since Abenomics kicked off . `` The key issue is whether the economy is creating jobs , and the answer is absolutely yes . On top of that you have corporates making more money , they have basically doubled , so you have employment up and profit up and consumer sentiment on the rise . '' But there are still plenty of Japanese who are not a part of this picture . And they are they people that Abe needs to convince if he is to stay in power .
Two years after its introduction , Abenomics is yet to reach all Japan . Some sectors of the economy are doing well out of the Japanese government 's economic policy . But the costs mean that not all Japanese are fans of the policy . Abe is painting the impending general election as a referendum on Abenomics .