The Bellwether Series: Japan

Registration and refreshments

Opening remarks

Graham Davis, Managing Director, Japan and China, The Economist Group

Keynote speech: Maintaining financial stability post-crisis

Japan was one of the industrialised countries most affected by the financial crisis, and has pushed through a series of extraordinary stimulus packages to battle economic recession. What is the macroeconomic situation and what does the future hold? 

Managing government debt: Effective fiscal and monetary policy options

One of the characteristics of Japan’s financial system is the extremely high level of public debt. Exactly how high is it by global and historic standards?

• How sustainable is it?
• Are we on the verge of a debt or yen crisis – or even both?
• What are realistic options for the government in decreasing debt, and debt/GDP ratios, without killing growth?
• On the monetary front, what are the options, and what role should the Bank of Japan play, in overcoming deflation? 

Panelists:

Makoto Utsumi, President and CEO, Japan Credit Rating Agency, Former Vice Minister of Finance, Japan

Peter Morgan, Senior Research for Research, Asian Development Bank Institute

Kyohei Morita, Director and Chief Economist, Barclays Capital Japan Limited

Moderator:

Henry Tricks, Tokyo Bureau Chief, The Economist

Interview: Kaoru Yosano, Co-president, The Sunrise Party of Japan (SPJ)

Moderator:

Henry Tricks, Tokyo Bureau Chief, The Economist

 Networking coffee and tea break

 The regulator: Help or hindrance?

The financial sector regulator (FSA) should take some credit for preventing financial contagion. 

• How was it achieved?
• What are the lessons for capital and liquidity standards?
• What is the view in Japan on Basle II? Will it  be beneficial for Japan’s finance sector?
• Is the lesson learned even greater regulation, or must the regulator look to some de-regulation in order to stimulate GDP growth?
• What is the future of derivatives and securitisation? How will ongoing regulatory reform in the US, UK and EU affect Japan’s regulators?

Kenji Tamura, Parliamentary Secretary of Cabinet Office for Financial Services

Moderator:
Dan Slater, Director, Japan, Economist Corporate Network

Panelists:

Tatsuya Ito, Former Minister of State for Financial Services

Atsushi Saito, President and CEO, Tokyo Stock Exchange Group

Yoshinori Shimizu, Professor, Graduate School of Commerce and Management, Hitotsubashi University

Moderator:

Kenneth Cukier, Tokyo Correspondent, The Economist

Lunch

 1.30pm

The big clean-up: Governance, rules and transparency in public-sector administration

 After 50 years of one-party rule, what can the DPJ do to instil fresh principles of good governance, transparency and sound accounting in the key government ministries and government-affiliated corporations?

• How are the New Public Management movement which is progressing in Japan, and reforms such as Whole Government Accounts (recently introduced to the UK), asserting control over the Bank of Japan through inflation targeting, and through double-entry book-keeping at the Ministry of Finance?
• What are the prospects for individual pension-account reforms and individual tax identification numbers ?
• What are the prospects for the effective management of Japan’s foreigh-exchange reserves?

Yasuyo Yamazaki, Advisor for Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

Yutaka Harada, Chief Economist and Senior Managing Director, Daiwa Institute of Research

Masazumi Wakatabe, Professor, Waseda University

Moderator:

Graham Davis, Managing Director, Japan and China, The Economist Group

Asset management in Japan: Structural issues in a shrinking Japan

Despite its high public debt levels, with $15 trillion in household financial assets and large foreign exchange reserves, Japan also has plentiful capital.

Japan’s financial markets: The whole story

A panel discussion on the structure, efficiency and sustainability of Japan’s financial markets. With experts from all sides of the industry—from venture capital to commercial banks, from major capital market players to niche operators. This session will look at the supply and demand for finance in Japan.

Panelists:

Seiji Yasubuchi, President and CEO, GE Capital Japan

Tetsutaro Muraki, President and CEO, Tokyo AIM

Masato Marumo, Managing Director, The Carlyle Group

William H. Saito, Affiliate Fellow, GRIPS, and CEO, InTecur

Concluding remarks

Graham Davis, Managing Director, Japan and China, The Economist Group