Princes of the Yen
Central Banks and the Transformation of the Economy
It’s a little known fact that central banks have the power to create economical, political, and social change. For instance, this film explores how Japanese society was transformed to comply with the needs and desires of a powerful group. It reveals that Japanese citizens had no idea that this was being done.
When the war ended in 1945 the Japanese banking sector was bankrupt. The only assets they owned were war bonds or loans to industries that had been destroyed by the war. The Bank of Japan solved the problem easily by buying the banking sector’s bad papers. The first two post-war Central Bank Governors were nominated by the US occupation.
Normally, banks choose clients from a large number of loan applicants. A significant percentage of applicants are turned down. From 1987 onward, the tables turned in Japan and the bankers were aggressively pursuing potential customers.
When a country creates too much money, some of it spills out abroad in the form of investments. In the 1980s Japanese capital flows multiplied greatly. Assets including art, golf courses, and movie production companies became targets for Japanese buyers. Japan went on a shopping spree all over the world because the market did not devalue its currency.
In the 1990s Richard Werner was a visiting researcher at the Bank of Japan during the economic crash. At that time the stock market dropped by 80%. Werner went on to write a book where he uncovered the real cause of this period in Japanese history.
Japan shifted its economic system to a US style market economy, which meant that the center of the economy was moved from banks to stock market. Unemployment rose significantly as well as wealth disparity, suicides, and violent crimes. Then in 2002, the Bank of Japan forced local banks to foreclose on their borrowers.
This documentary makes use of archival footage and important interviews to guide the viewer to a new understanding of what it is that controls the economies of the world. At the same time, it’s obvious how history is repeating itself and how what happened in Japan about 25 years ago is currently taking place in Europe.
“Princes of the Yen” is an unparalleled challenge to today’s widespread ideological belief systems and the levers that control it. Piece by piece, reality is analyzed in this poignant film to reveal the world’s economy as it really is — not as those who hold the power would like us to believe that it is.
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