At first glance the grim economic and political situation now confronting Japan sounds remarkably similar to the British scene. There is the same slump in national production, the same factory closures and rising unemployment, and the same highly unpopular prime ministers and weak governments that seem, in both cases, to have lost their way.
But this similarity is only on the surface. Beneath the scary and truly dreadful statistics lie complex causes and conditions that are quite different as between the two countries.
It is important to understand these differences because contained within them may be some valuable clues as to how the global economy can begin to escape from the present dark labyrinth of collapsed confidence, collapsed markets and general fear that has brought the world economy to a standstill.