Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Overview -- I ADDRESSING FINANCIAL SECTOR WEAKNESSES -- 2 Current Issues Facing the Financial Sector -- 3 Banks and Credit in Japan -- II CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING AND STRUCTURAL REFORMS -- 4 The Resolution and Collection Corporation and the Market for Distressed Debt in Japan -- 5 Structural Reforms, Information Technology, and Medium-Term Growth Prospects -- III FISCAL POLICY CHALLENGES -- 6 Population Aging: Its Fiscal and Macroeconomic Implications -- 7 Fiscal Policies During the Demographic Transition -- 8 Fiscal Policy: An Evaluation of Its Effectiveness -- IV MONETARY AND EXCHANGE RATE POLICY IN JAPAN -- 9 The Zero-Interest-Rate Floor and Its Implications for Monetary Policy in Japan -- 10 Monetary Policy in a Deflationary Environment -- 11 The Yen-Dollar Rate: Have Interventions Mattered? -- V JAPAN AND ASIA -- 12 The Impact of Japanese Economic Policies on the Asia Region.