The WEF is wrapping up and Taro Aso Prime Minister of Japan did the last big presentation on Saturday.

It was timely and significant.  Japan had wrenching experience with a bubble economy in the late 80’s and that experience showed in the speech.  Japan

Special Address by H.E. Mr. Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan On the Occasion of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum

The Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy was held in Washington DC last November. Based on Japan’s experiences, I advocated the necessity of expeditious disposal of financial institutions’ non-performing loans and also of capital injections using public funds.

In addition, I announced Japan’s readiness to provide a loan equivalent of a maximum of US$100 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the belief that it is imperative to ensure liquidity centered on the US dollar for middle-sized and small countries as well as emerging economies. I welcome oil-producing nations and countries with substantial foreign currency reserves to join in such efforts. I strongly believe so even now.

He highlighted the scale of Asian economies which is often lost on the west.

The combined economies of Japan, China, and the ROK, at 15.9% of the total global GDP, exceed the combined figure of Germany, the UK, and France

In summary the economies of the east and Japan in particular are enormous components of the success or faulure of our collective strategies.  Powerful stuff.