ABSTRACT
The intimidating power of Japanese money in the 1980s has long become a thing of the past, but Japan’s financial sector and the Japanese monetary authority still possess large enough financial power and premier seats in the financial world that give them ample opportunities to voice their views over international financial governance. When Japanese government representatives attended a series of meetings among G7 financial ministers in the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) just about ten years ago, they denounced excessive pressures towards financial liberalization in East Asia, and insisted that stricter financial regulations should be imposed on highly leveraged financial institutions, namely hedge funds. In addition, criticisms from Japan and Asia mounted over the central role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the settlement (and alleged exacerbation) of the crisis, which later heightened the demand for higher level of regional preparedness to tackle regional and international financial crises effectively. The preferred solution at that point for many East Asian countries, including Japan, facing the financial crisiswas to establish stronger control over “casino capitalism” (Strange 1986) in the world, and to nurture solid regional financial cooperation that could avoid regional financial instability. This wish was not granted then.
