look to japan

Remember back in the 1980s people were predicting America's decline and saying Japan would be the superpower of the future? Back in the 1980s we looked to Japan to learn how Japanese companies did what they did, and what we could learn from Japan's system of government and corporate governance.

Not much as it turned out - the Japanese bubble didn't last.

And now, suggests Anthony Faiola, we can look to Japan again to see whether its Lost Decade is something we might be heading towards. Faiola said it wasn't so bad for Japan, the Lost Decade. True, in the sense that even with its economic problems, Japan's economy is one most countries could only dream of having.

But it's not a very inspiring image for us to look to now, unfortunately.