Japan will keep failing to attract investors to its stock market unless Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda carries out extensive structural reforms, said Heizo Takenaka, a former Cabinet minister and the key financial reform architect under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
"If Japan carries out reforms, it will be reflected in the stock market. If not, the status quo will continue," Takenaka said in a recent interview, alarmed at the recent plunge in the Nikkei average.
According to a report by Standard & Poor's, Japanese stock indexes fell 6.55 percent in 2007, making Japan the second-worst performer among the 52 countries the firm surveyed. Meanwhile, Indian stock indexes soared 78.98 percent and Chinese stocks surged 66.91 percent.