Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda gave his regular post-meeting news conference on Friday.

Mike had the headlines, here: BOJ's Kuroda says weakness in production and exports is temporary

The Nikkei follows up ... and quite harshly for them ...

They recap Kuroda's comments (in brief):

  • Japan's recent slowdown in exports and consumer spending is temporary
  • Income growth and economic recovery overseas should bring gradual improvement
  • Kuroda confident that "private consumption has been resilient"
  • Argues wages are still rising and consumer sentiment improving

Nikkei then go on to challenge Kuroda:

  • Kuroda's comments are belied by sales and other statistics showing that consumer spending has been somewhat shaky of late
  • A growing number of market economists predict consumer spending will be a drag on real gross domestic product
  • Although the central bank contends that one-off factors such as poor weather in June played a role, wage growth may also have been too weak to bolster consumer spending
  • For July onward, economists will be watching for the recovery expected by the BOJ

They've got a good point. While some stats are coming in better in Japan, there is a long way to go before Peter Pan finds wings.