It should surprise no one that such a process creates close ties among money, politics, and corruption. Some commentators, particularly Japanese critics of the system, identify corruption and money politics as the problem. While unsavory, the Japanese econo my and political system could well survive that. The root of the problem is that politics has been reduced to the delivery of pork. The corruption is just a natural outgrowth and a supporting pillar of a system in which too much money is simply wasted on pork-barrel projects.
Japan is world-renowned for having a high savings and investment rate.
But a substantial portion of that investment is devoted to public works and private-sector projects related to those public expenditures. The answer is far from clear. The question for Japan, Asia, and the world is whether reform, led by the bureaucracy and instituted from the top down, is really the solution or whether instead reform will perpetuate the problem. At the moment, we wait for the answer. The American system of political economy sought out a contrarian to play the role of economic stabilizer.