Part 1 of Essay
I sense a major paradox surrounding Japan lately. If you look at GDP, or the per capita national income, Japan is one of the richest countries in the world. Trade surpluses are at record levels, foreign exchange reserves are the highest in the world, and Japan is the biggest creditor nation in the world. However, apart fr ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... they pay a "Japan premium" on top of market interest rates, as happened from 1962 to 1964. At that time, because Japan was seen as a second- or third-rate country, this was to be expected. However, Japan is now a financial giant. Is it strange that Japanese banks have to pay higher interest rates when they borrow money? At the international conferences I have attended over the past few months, whenever the Asian crisis is discussed, four countries--Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, and Japan--are mentioned as the ....