I agree, but QE is not a dumb idea per se, it's just the way that it's done is severely lacking. What you want is inflation, which means you want to increase the amount of money in circulation. A simple way to do that is for the central bank to make money up and give, say, 20000 yen to each citizen every year until deflation went away. This is called a helicopter drop in finance-speak, and seen as very radical. Deflation should be cause for celebration: It means the central bank can print money without hurting the economy. The money thus printed could be used for all kinds of good purposes, but it's not done.

I guess the reason helicopter drops are not done is that it kinda breaks some illusions people have with money. People generally don't know that central banks buy second hand government bonds, basically giving money to those who hold that kind of asset. In short, there's no law of physics that say you have to work for money. I guess they don't think the plebes would respond well to knowing this.