JAPAN

In terms of economics, Japan has little reason to be optimistic in 1997. Ac-cording to the official estimation, the economic growth rate for Japan in the newyear would be 1.9%, the lowest in the recent few years. The estimation made bymajor non-governmental organizations is even poorer, only 1.5%. Two develop-ments leading to this pessimism are as follows. First, the financial crisis has takena turn for the worse and the government seems to have little means to stimulate theeconomy. In 1996, Japan’s budget deficit hit 7.4% of the GDP, the highest a-mong the Western seven countries. The accumulated debts of the central and local