As the economies of Australasia move on out--enjoying a world-beating pace of growth that now again includes the integral economy of Japan--the bar for such a select list gets higher.
Embracing Defeat includes chapters on the Tokyo war crimes trials and the rekindling of the Japanese economy with the birth of Japan Inc.
All three were nominated by new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who came into office on the promise of bringing Japan's economy out of its prolonged slump.
To reflate its sick economy, the Bank of Japan needs to print massive quantities of money.
Finance ministers from the G-20 on Friday expressed agreement that Japan needs to support its sluggish economy, and that the Bank of Japan's new monetary policy was aimed at defeating inflation, not weakening the yen.
Instead, the key factor behind export growth is the general health of the global economy, which determines how many units of Japan's competitively but not cannibalistically priced exports the world buys.
Few doubt that the weak yen is the inevitable result of rock-bottom interest rates, which were necessary to pull the economy out of the dumps and to save Japan's troubled banks.
On the plus side, the presence of the state has lent a stability and long-term perspective to the investment and growth of the Chinese economy, which is not just reminiscent of the keiretsu in Japan but also the family holdings in the chaebols in Korea.
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And, although China admires the industrial history of Japan, its economy is very different.
For the moment, China's leaders seem content to let the economy roar, to the benefit of Japan.
The U.S. became the world's powerhouse economy because the economies of Europe and Japan were wrecked by the war.
They are our economy's secret sauce, the only thing that distinguishes the still-dynamic U.S. economy from those of sclerotic Europe and Japan.
However, in the longer term the strength of Japan's economy is more important for the region than the strength of the yen.
Renewed pessimism about the state of Japan's economy is a big reason.
But there is growing concern that a still weaker yen would reduce the political pressure to push ahead with the deregulation of Japan's economy.
Shares in companies that stand to benefit from the continued reflation of Japan's economy have been climbing at a rate best described as vertiginous.
Its goal of prompting growth in the underachieving domestic side of Japan's economy is a fine one, and certainly there is room for huge productivity improvements in some areas, particularly agriculture.
The yen's slump across a range of currencies has occurred as a new government has pledged to revive the deflation-dogged Japanese economy and has pressured the Bank of Japan to aggressively ease monetary policy.
WSJ: Strong Start to 2013 Hints at Revival for Currency Funds
"If U.S. economy improves, and the Bank of Japan's aggressive easing continues ... that will lead to further dollar strength and yen weakness, " said Kanda, who predicts the dollar will rise to 110 yen this year.
By joining the U.S. Federal Reserve and other major central banks in flooding the economy with cash, the Bank of Japan hopes to get corporations and consumers to begin spending more and end a long malaise.
Ben Bernanke, a governor at America's Federal Reserve, has argued that, to kick-start Japan's economy, tax cuts should be financed directly by the Bank of Japan.
There is even one predicting the return, in 2002, of Japan's boom economy.
Its days have been numbered since the collapse of the Berlin Wall coincided with the bursting of Japan's bubble economy.
Tsuneo Iida, an economist at Chubu University, claims that the financial mess left after the bursting of Japan's bubble economy was the Americans' fault.
The yen weakened sharply on Friday and continued its descent Monday after officials from the Group of 20 signaled their approval of Japan's use of aggressive monetary policy to stimulate its economy.
The yen weakened sharply on Friday and continued its descent early Monday after officials from the Group of 20 signaled their approval of Japan's use of aggressive monetary policy to stimulate its economy.
Yet for all its apparent solidity, Germany's economy has crashed harder than that of any other big rich country (with the possible exception of Japan, another high-saving, export-led economy).
So whether you see the blossoms or the vomit, a half full cup of sake or a half empty can of beer, the future of Japan is in the hands of the Japanese, not the New Economy gurus we read about in TIME, Newsweek and Fortune.
CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Letter from Japan: Economic Binge
Confidence in the Japanese economy soared in the 1980s on the strength of Japan's business sociology.
After years of stagnation, Japan's economy seems to be on the move, albeit very, very slowly.
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