Peter F. Drucker Boxed Set (8 Books) (The Drucker Library)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

A Troubled Japanese Juggernaut

SEEN FROM THE UNITED STATES, Japan has a record—and mounting—surplus in her balance of payments and in her international trade. Seen from Japan, this “surplus” looks more like a record write-off of massive inventory losses.

Seen from the United States, the Japanese yen is the strongest among free world currencies, perhaps still undervalued at 250 to the dollar and kept from rising further only by the “dirty float”—large-scale intervention by the Bank of Japan. Seen from Japan, the strength of the yen looks transitory and illusionary.

Seen from the United States, Japanese economic policy looks ...