Stopping the yen's decline

Monetary authorities in Japan and the United States have begun a concerted intervention in the foreign exchange markets to put a stop to the sharp decline in the value of the yen. The concerted intervention is a first step forward. But successfully drawing the United States into foreign exchange market rescue operations does not mean the malaise that caused the "sell-off of Japan" has been cured. Unless the rot is removed as soon as possible, there will be renewed pressure to sell the yen.

Steps to restore confidence in Japan must be taken promptly, taking advantage of this brief grace period. The most urgent among them is to liquidate the bad loans saddling the banking system -- a move that is long overdue.

We want the prime minister, after coming up with a concrete timetable for dealing with the bad loans, to declare that he has the political will to enrich people's lives by eliminating their fears about the future. He should do this by changing his approach to precious budget allocations.

-- Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo