Abenomics initially generated high expectations but it has more recently come to be seen as yet another failed economic experiment. In addition, discussion of Abenomics often verges on caricature. It is thus crucial to provide a critical and balanced evaluation. We argue that, over the past five years, the proactive policies pursued under Abenomics played a decisive role in reversing one cause of the Japanese slowdown – inconsistent economic policies – and that they are now yielding preliminary results. We are more critical with regard to long-term issues: as the case of trade policy shows, the problem is not so much a lack of structural reform as limits to its ability to increase Japan's growth potential.