Since Junichi Koizumi retired from the Prime Minister's post, Japan's reform efforts have not only derailed, but there has been a serious backlash against reform and creative destruction on multiple levels. While the government on the surface continues to encourage direct foreign investment, trends at the grass-roots level are very much the opposite.
How government bureaucrats and the bulk of Japanese corporate management really feel about shareholders has been made clear by the recent comments of METI vice minister Takao Kitabata, who dismissed day traders as capricious and irresponsible fools that do not deserve voting rights, and who sees (activist) shareholders as fickle and irresponsible in only taking limited responsibility while greedily demanding high dividend payments and threatening corporate managers as well as other shareholders.
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