Flush with cash after crawling out of its own bad-debt crisis, Japan is offering funding to help prop up crumbling financial firms around the world — a move that some hope may bolster this nation's standing on the international stage.
"We must take the lead in setting up a way to buy up the world's risky assets. A major motive is that we can help the U.S. and the world economies," ruling party lawmaker Kotaro Tamura said on his Web page. "It's a big chance for us to have the U.S. grateful and indebted to us."
Japan is sitting on more than $950 billion in foreign-exchange reserves, second only to China's $1.9 trillion. Together, they control a major pool of funds that could come to the rescue of the West's severely strained financial industry. Options range from helping to provide credit to strapped financial institutions to cash infusions in return for ownership stakes.