Word: hashimoto
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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TOKYO: At least Ryutaro Hashimoto knows the things to say. A day after formalizing plans to clean up Japan's ravaged banking system, the Japanese Prime Minister said he favored permanent tax cuts as the other half of a strategy to revive the moribund Japanese economy. "This was the other major step that the U.S. has been seeking on behalf of the entire region," says TIME Wall Street columnist Daniel Kadlec. "Cleaning up the bad debt allows banks to start lending to businesses again; tax cuts give Japanese people more money to start spending again...
...Hashimoto's words had the desired effect: Trading in Tokyo ended on a yen surge against the dollar and a 200-point boost in the Nikkei index. But was this just electioneering -- Hashimoto made the crowd-pleasing comments at a campaign rally. The July 12 parliamentary election will be a referendum on how Hashimoto performed during this crisis. Unless his Liberal Democratic Party thrives in the election, Hashimoto's promises could turn out to be empty...
Tokyo can smell the coffee. Being left off President Clinton's China itinerary appears to have roused the Hashimoto government into finally doing something about its failing economy. Tokyo Thursday unveiled a plan to take control of the country's failed banks and start shutting them down -- a course of action that the U.S. has been pushing urgently. "Our government has been telling Japan they have to get rid of the bad banks to let the good ones prosper," says TIME business correspondent Daniel Kadlec. "Without banks lending money, there can be no economic activity, and Japanese banks haven...
...spectacle of Beijing being praised for its responsible role in managing the Asian crisis while Tokyo is berated for its failure to act telegraphed an important message to Japanese leaders. "Japan's recession can drag the whole world down with it, and the Administration has been upset with Hashimoto's failure to act," says Kadlec. "Washington has been doing whatever it can to put pressure on Japan to save its economy." Crossing the playground to make nice with Beijing may have done the trick...
...hours after midnight, Washington time, financial markets opened in Europe. The Fed and the Japanese central bank began buying yen. As traders scrambled to adjust, the yen jumped 5.2% for the day. In Japan an upbeat Hashimoto pledged "every effort" to restore the country's debt-burdened banking sector and "open and deregulate its markets...