From the cars would climb top ministry bureaucrats and corporate executives, who passed through timber-framed doors, removed their shoes and disappeared into private dining rooms. Both sides would describe the meetings as a crucial lubricant for the corporate-government partnership that built the country's prosperity. These days, the limos are in short supply in Mukojima.
Customers are very nervous.
On Friday, the Bank of Japan announced it had disciplined 98 of its officials for accepting excessive entertainment from financial institutions that have regular contact with the bank. Some of the Bank of Japan officials were found to have leaked confidential information. Whatever the reasons, the arrests target a key practice of the clubby economic system that built prosperity for Japan in the postwar era, but since 1990 has been unable to pull it out of stagnation. Japan Inc. For years, bureaucrats have operated without written rules, giving them broad discretion to approve or deny business products or strategies. Companies have refused to disclose detailed financial information, forcing outsiders to study their ties with their main banks and keiretsu business groups to determine corporate health.