When Rikkyo University professor Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi first heard about Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's plan to set up a new bank in 2003, one thought immediately leaped to mind: This is doomed to fail.
Yamaguchi's doubts appear to have been borne out by Ishihara's recent proposal that Tokyo's 12 million tax-paying residents provide ¥40 billion to bail out financially troubled Shinginko Tokyo, which was launched in April 2004.
Few experts believe the rescue plan will solve the problems of the money-losing bank. As Yamaguchi points out, many expect that even with the emergency capital injection, the bank, which is owned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, will soon fall into financial straits again and impose further burdens on the taxpayers of the capital.