Japan's Lost Decade Threatens to Be Global Norm: William Pesek

[marmar]

from Bloomberg:



Japan's Lost Decade Threatens to Be Global Norm: William Pesek

Commentary by William Pesek



July 11 (Bloomberg) -- It's fitting that Japan chose the Windsor Hotel Toya to stage this week's Group of Eight summit.

The resort on the northern island of Hokkaido opened in 1993 under the name Hotel Apex Toya. It was an inauspicious start amid the deflationary funk that followed the bursting of the bubble economy. Its fortunes became emblematic of Japan's ``lost decade'' and revival today.

Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, the hotel's main creditor, went bankrupt in November 1997, and the hotel suspended operations early the next year. It reopened as the Windsor Hotel Toya in 2002 -- the same year, as fate would have it, that Japan's longest post-World War II recovery began.

And so, leaders such as George W. Bush of the U.S. and Angela Merkel of Germany converged in a building that's as good a symbol of 10 years of squandered growth as any. It was a fitting locale as economists debate what lessons Japan holds for the G-8.

Count Hong Kong real-estate mogul Ronnie Chan firmly among those who think Japan's 1990s experience is highly instructive. The reason: Lost decades may become the rule, not the exception.

``What if the lost decade in Japan becomes the global norm?'' Chan, chairman of Hang Lung Properties Ltd., said at the Asia Innovation Initiative conference in Fukuoka, Japan, on July 8. ``Can you imagine that? Perhaps we should. Perhaps people should get used to slower growth, or no growth.'' ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=ajAzahqXxClY&refer=home

[Art_from_Ark]

1. Japan's longest post-World War II recovery began in 2002?

Who writes this stuff? Japan's longest post-World War II recovery is generally acknowledged to have begun in 1955 or so, and lasted until the first oil shock of 1973-- nearly two decades. That's far longer than the present "recovery".