It is nearly ten years since Japan was about to take over the known world. Until a month ago, the United States seemed unable to put a foot wrong. Then it, too, showed ominous signs of faltering. Can Japan's mysterious ailment, whatever it is, be spreading? Japan came third last in the OECD's table of industrialised and would-be industrialised member nations' growth for 1999, with 0.2 per cent, ahead of Turkey and the Czech Republic. The OECD predicts that when the figures for 2000 are in, Japan will be at the bottom of the table with 1.9 per cent, behind Britain (3 per cent), the US (5.2 per cent), and effervescent Ireland, heading the OECD charts with 11 per cent.

LRB 5 April 2001 | PDF Download