As I understand it anyway, the fundamental problems of the Japanese industry and the US industry are different.

A large part of the problem in Japan is centered on their banks. When the stock market was at it's peak in Japan, the banks used all the free money to back or outright buy various investments. Investments which turned out to be very bad, a lot of it went into various land deals in the US. Unfortunatly, the banks where and are unwilling to simply write off that bad debt, so their money is still tied up. This is strangling the Japanese markets because there is little money available for new investments.

The problems in the US is based in problems with accounting and management. But it's a problem of outright fraud, not bad investment practice. Japan's problem is forcing their economy to wade through a swamp to get anywhere, ours is more like walking a mine field.

Jay