JAPAN'S BROKERS: A PROTECTED SPECIES
At the new Tokyo Stock Exchange building, an English-language sign
in the visitors' gallery reads: "Please be seated when
eating." Asked the significance of it, the tour guide had a ready
answer. In the seated position, tourists are out of the floor
traders' line of sight. "The traders complained that being
watched by people eating made them feel like animals in a zoo," she
added.
So is safeguarded the natural habitat of the world's most
prosperous protected species. Fittingly symbolized by the
exchange's flashy new building, a smug statement in granite and
glass, the Tokyo stockbroking industry has been enjoying an
unprecedented burst of good times. But, as critics in Japan and abroad
have been pointing out, the brokers' prosperity is precariously
dependent on the Ministry of Finance's continued toleration of
their lucrative commission-setting cartel.
The cartel has ensured not only that trading...
