Japan's high-spending legacy
Twenty years ago Japan suffered a huge banking collapse almost identical to the one that Europe and America are trying to drag themselves out of now. But unlike in Europe, Japan did not suffer the pain of austerity.
There were no angry demonstrators taking to the streets. Unemployment stayed low, and the economy continued to grow, albeit slowly. How did Japan do it?
Put simply: the Japanese government decided to spend its way out of trouble.
On a narrow back street in southern Tokyo, a group of young men are unloading shiny new solar panels from a van and hauling them up on to a roof.
The roof belongs to Mrs Motoyoshi, a young housewife with a one-year-old baby, Ko Chan. The panels should be costing Mrs Motoyoshi $25,000 (£16,000). But in Tokyo up to half that cost is covered by government subsidies.
"I wanted to get solar power, so when I heard the government subsidies may be coming to an end I decided I must get the panels now," she says.
...
...more...