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Article: Corruption, construction, conservatism.(Japanese system of business)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- April 20, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Even mightier armed with pens
The bureaucrats and politicians have much to answer for
THE bizarre FILP system did not in fact get through the 1990s wholly free from assault. Ryutaro Hashimoto, prime minister from 1996 to 1998, made a start on tackling it when he was in reform-minded mood. But look at what he was up against.
First, the bureaucrats. The people who administer the system, the heirs of those who devised it, stand to gain enormously from its perpetuation. One way they do so is through amakudari (descent from heaven), the practice whereby top bureaucrats on retirement land in comfortable sinecures in the industries they used to be ...