February 2001
Bureaucrats give up a great treasure
Japan’s ministry of finance has lost face in the past decade as an arbiter of business development. The complexities of market growth have overwhelmed it, the collapse of a Liberal Democratic monopoly has removed its political underpinnings and scandalous revelations have been made about its corrupt practices. Now it has lost its traditional name. Despite the rise of rivals such as the Financial Services Agency and attempts by politicians to bypass MoF’s budget functions it’s far from clear who is in charge.
After more than a thousand years in all and more than 130
at the heart of Japan's modern economic history, a great and
literally precious title has just been thrown into the dustbin of
history - with profound implications for the future of the world's
second biggest economy.
Japan's ministry of finance has lost the Japanese name Okura-sho,
literally ministry of great treasure, and become Zaimu-sho, plain
ministry of finance. (In English, the ministry of finance title is
being preserved though there was discussion about changing it to
treasury.)
Although top MoF civil servants claim that the name change has no
deep significance, the new name is symbolic of the rapid loss of
power that the MoF has experienced. From being the pre-eminent
power behind post-war Japan's rise from the ashes, the MoF has lost
its policing authority over financial institutions and is even
struggling to assert its control over the budget. Its downgrading
raises an...
This is archived content. Your current settings does not currently allow access to the archive. To gain access visit the subscription page or call our hotline on +44 (0)207 779 8999.
If you are a trialist or subscriber, please enter your username and password at the top right-hand side of euromoney.com
Subscribers to Euromoney benefit from:
Level 1:
- Online access to the past 12 months content
- Tailored RSS news feeds direct to your desktop
- News delivered directly to your mobile device or PC
- Personalised email newsfeed of 'Top stories' and 'Breaking news'
Level 2:
- Exclusive access to euromoney.com - Read the latest issue early online, search for specific developments by region or sector, interrogate the results of Euromoney's benchmark polls, and view the archive dating back to 2000
- 12 monthly issues of Euromoney magazine
- More than 30 specialist research guides free
- The results of Euromoney’s polls and surveys
- Tailored RSS news feeds direct to your desktop
- News delivered directly to your mobile device or PC
- Personalised email newsfeed of 'Top stories' and 'Breaking news'
Click here to subscribe