In this ground-breaking book, leading commentators on the Japanese economy analyse both the immediate and deep-seated causes that make a sustained economic recovery in Japan problematic. They debate the deep-rooted structural causes of Japan's decline and assess Japan's faltering financial system before prescribing policies to abate the continuing crisis.Starting with Japan's unanticipated economic collapse in the 1990s, the volume's contributors try to fathom the way forward for a seemingly catatonic economy. The first section deals with the entrenched structural causes of Japan's economic decline and demonstrates why sustained recovery is likely to be difficult. The second section tackles a more immediate difficulty impeding economic recovery - Japan's nearly bankrupt financial system - and discusses how regulators and politicians both helped to cause and can possibly combat this problem. All contributors agree that measures must be taken to ensure the synchronization of political, institutional and cultural structures to guarantee Japan's successful recovery. They are unable to agree on which measures will be effective and feasible.

This highly insightful and accessible volume will be of interest to scholars of Japanese studies, financial economics and international economics as well as anyone with an interest in the current Japanese crisis.