This text is a revealing look at Japan's post-war economy and the key factors that shaped it. It focuses on the 1980s and 1990s, when Japan's economy experienced vast swings in activity.

This is a revealing look at Japan's post-war economy and the key factors that shaped it. It focuses on the 1980s and 1990s, when Japan's economy experienced vast swings in activity. According to the author, the most recent upheaval in Japan's economy is the result of the policies of a central bank less concerned with stimulating the economy than with its own turf battles and its ideological agenda to change Japan's economic structure. The book combines new historical research with an indepth behind-the-scenes account of the bureaucratic competition between Japan's most important institutions: the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan.