A conference dedicated to highlighting financial innovation in the world's second largest economy

The Japanese stock market enjoyed a robust year in 2005, the December Tankan reports a shortage of labour for the first time in 13 years, the CPI turned positive in Nov 05 and finally wages are beginning to rise. How well positioned are domestic and international issuers and investors to capitalize on the third longest expansion phase of the Japanese economy in the post-war era? Big questions remain. Japan's economy still faces serious long term problems, with a declining birthrate and rising public debt, yet the year 2006 may open a new era of strength for the country. The ‘three excesses' that have been such a brake on the economy have been largely eradicated and Japan is now positioned to reap the dividends of reform. A key challenge facing Japan is the painless exit of the State from its dominant role in the financial markets and the timing of the shift away from the quantitative easing policy. The last fifteen years has seen neglect of infrastructure. Plants and machinery of manufacturers in Japan need rapid updating to compete in the global markets. The banks, with their array of new financial instruments providing financing, dispersion and re-distribution of risk with new techniques tried and tested in the US and Europe can provide the necessary support to turn "moderate sustained expansion" into an altogether more dynamic new era?