You only have to look at the US and Euro economies post 2008 to see the real world benefits of QE. Europeans went down the austerity route and are stuck with consistently underperforming economy and the threat of deflation. The US has turned the corner and is a job creating machine again including the first real signs of inflationary pressure through rising wages. The most unusual thing I can see about Japan is it's trying to take the US and Euro approach together at the same time. Their problem is deflation. Deflation tells consumers not to buy as you wait 6 months and it'll be cheaper. It's a deadly downward spiral. So the Japanese are trying to stoke their economy to create inflation which in turn spurs consumption. Yet they go into this with a massive amount of debt already so are raising consumption taxes at the very time they need consumption. Something has to give.