P355 4-Tel 355 Mon 25 Jan C4 00:32:31 HIGH INTEREST Today, 5.15-6.00pm In The Great Japanese Bubble PREVIEW John Plender examines how the Japanese Stock Market crash of the early 1990s is likely to have far- reaching consequences. The frenetic growth of the Japanese economy in the 1980s fuelled an explosion in share and property prices. Share prices rose four-fold in four years. At one point property prices were so high that, in theory, the entire landmass of Canada could have been bought by selling the grounds of the Imperial Palace. More in a moment... 1/4 Today Next Preview Films Subtitles listP355 4-Tel 355 Mon 25 Jan C4 00:28:57 HIGH INTEREST Today, 5.15-6.00pm The Japanese bubble had burst. PREVIEW Now the country is suffering the unusual experience of recession. The Stock Exchange has crashed and leading companies are suffering their first losses. Japan cannot now revert back to pre- bubble days. Japanese society and the economy has changed forever. The banking system is threatened with collapse and the political system is plagued with corruption scandals. More in a moment... 2/4 Today Next Preview Films Subtitles listP355 4-Tel 355 Mon 25 Jan C4 00:34:18 HIGH INTEREST Today, 5.15-6.00pm "As long as Japanese people PREVIEW felt confident, secure and upwardly mobile, they were happy to make sacrifices for the wider national purpose," says Plendjr. "But," warns Plendjr, "since the bubble burst, people have conj to feel that the system has failed them". The boom and crash are likely to deprive corporate Japan of its formula of high investment derived from the national ethic of thrift and freedom. Now profit-generation may become the main force behind Japanese industry. More in a moment... 3/4 Today Next Preview Films Subtitles listP355 4-Tel 355 Mon 25 Jan C4 00:43:11 HIGH INTEREST Today, 5.15-6.00pm Now that the Japanese bubble PREVIEW has burst, the strength of the yen makes exporting difficult. On the shop floor, job-for-life guarantees are now a thing of the past so that employees are wanting pay rises for merit rather than seniority. John Plender explains how the people of a country more resistant to change than others are becoming less reverential. People, says Plendjr, are less willing to sacrifice their personal interests to national economic goals and the whole economy is maturing into one moving closer to the western model. 4/4 Today Next Preview Films Subtitles list