In a world where energy markets remain hostage to distant conflicts, Japan's government has chosen once more to stand between its citizens and the volatility of crude oil prices, committing an additional ¥2.5 trillion to hold gasoline at ¥170 per liter. Prime Minister Takaichi's decision, announced Tuesday, reflects a familiar tension in modern governance: the desire for fiscal discipline on one hand, and the political and human cost of abandoning price stability on the other. Since 2022, Japan has spent roughly ¥9 trillion absorbing the shocks of a world it cannot control, a sum that quietly