After Japan's Prime Minister Abe tried to goad the Group of Seven leading industrial powers into concerted stimulus to avert a looming economic crisis, FinanceAsia looks at how the Bank of Japan's experiment with negative interest rates has impacted financial markets in the world's third-largest economy.
When the Bank of Japan adopted sub-zero rates earlier this year it hurled investors and borrowers into unknown territory. Meanwhile the country's economy is still skirting recession, consumer prices fell in April for the second month in a row and the yen has soared to an 18-month high.
No wonder Abe appears to be paving the way...