What can we learn from Japan's 30 years of experience?
Written by Masaaki Shirakawa / Translated by Kiyoung Park and Jiyeon Min 

[GLOBAL ECONOMIC TIMES]  When the Gulf War broke out in 1991, leaflets were circulated in the academy area of ​​Gangnam Station in Seoul, urging people to learn Japanese, the language of the world's best country, saying, "Both the U.S. and Iraqi troops fight with weapons made from Japanese parts." Looking back, that was the peak. Japan's last 'lost 30 years' were a period of hardships, including a sharp decline from a super boom to a bursting bubble, followed by a financial crisis, a super high yen, aging population, and population decline.

Now that Japan seems to be trying to get out of a long tunnel, this memoir (original title 中央銀行) by Masaaki Shirakawa (白川方明), an economist who served as governor of the Bank of Japan, is very noteworthy. In this book, which provides insight into the last 30 years of Japan's economic upheaval, he argues that the recession was prolonged because the Bank of Japan did not intervene with an active monetary easing policy when the bubble burst.

The decline of the Japanese electronics industry was not due to the strong yen, but to its lack of competitiveness compared to Samsung and LG, and political pressures such as ‘Abenomics’ actually delayed recovery. Explaining the situation in the storm of fighting low inflation, low growth, and low interest rates, he says, ‘Financial policy is not a magic wand, and ultimately, the role of each economic entity and population measures determine the situation.’