| Two of the biggest government agencies, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) have stayed out of the international markets so far this year. Others have been cautious. Akio Kamiko, director general of the loan department of the Japan Finance Corporation for Municipal Enterprises (JFM), which did raise $200 million in January, says that in the present market conditions he would find it hard to justify to the ministry of finance (MoF) the cost of raising money internationally. So were last year's deal just a flash in the pan? No, foreign investment bankers in Tokyo suggest that Japan will be back and indeed will have to come to the international markets soon in a still bigger way, as a price of growing up globally. JBIC is planning to issue before the summer, even though its financial team grimaces when asked about market conditions. And corporates may come to the fore. Telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) will have to find funds for its $5.5 billion purchase of Verio, the American website provider and high-speed data communications provider. Its mobile telephone offshoot, DoCoMo, will also be looking for money for its $4.5 |