http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010313/t114157_3.html

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Tuesday March 13, 10:53 pm Eastern Time

Japan govt task force on stocks to meet Thursday

(UPDATE: Recasts throughout)

TOKYO, March 14 (Reuters) - In the wake of slumping Tokyo stocks, an emergency stock market task force set up by Japan's ruling coalition and the government will hold its first meeting this week, the top government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference that the new task force to tackle the ailing stock market and lacklustre real estate sector will hold its inaugural meeting on Thursday morning.

In a hastily arranged meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori told Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, Economics Minister Taro Aso and Financial Services Agency Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa to consider ways to boost the depressed stock market and deal with banks' non-performing loans.

Those ministers are widely expected to join the task force.

The Tokyo stock market's benchmark Nikkei average edged up 0.85 percent on Wednesday morning after closing at a fresh 16-year low on Tuesday, battered by a plunge on Wall Street, global high-tech profit warnings and political uncertainty at home.

The formation of the task force comes days after the three parties in the ruling coalition unveiled a package to boost the stock market that included a mix of proposals ranging from lowering taxes on stock dividends to setting up a special fund to absorb stock sales.

Fukuda said the government was considering naming Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma and Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Chikage Ogi to join the task force.

Masaru Hayami, governor of the Bank of Japan which is an independent entity, was unlikely to be a member, he said.

-- (M@rket.trends), March 14, 2001

Answers

I just finished reading Rising Sun by Michael Crichton. It explained how clueless Americans are about the Japanese way of doing business. It also showed how America was being bought up by them. What to them were normal business practices are often illegal in America. They are excellent at understanding what is real and what is superficial and BS. They are great manipulators. They also think in the long term as opposed to how so many in business in the US think in instant profits. The Japanese sold products in the US at a loss so they could bankrupt and buy American competition. Once they had eliminated competition, they could set any price they wanted to. Price fixing is the norm in Japan. Blackmail and coercion are used as a normal business practice. They consider Americans barbarians, and we have done little to dispel that belief.

Things have changed since the book was written in the early 1990's, unfortunately not enough.

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), March 16, 2001.

Cherri,

If the Japanese are such brilliant businessmen, then why, since 1990, is the DOW up over 3 times where it was, while the NIKKEI is less than 1/3 of where it was?

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), March 17, 2001.