Japan must take its medicine

Japan is singing the blues about the loss of its triple-A credit status. The vice-finance minister, Haruhiko Kuroda, is demanding an explanation from Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's. Early indications are that no explanations will be forthcoming. Japan lost its AAA local currency rating from S&P on 22 February, 2001, and the rating fell further on 28 November and 15 April, 2002. Moody's yanked its Aaa much earlier, on 23 July, 1998. What really steams prime minister Junichiro Koizumi is that his country's rating is, as he says, 'lower than countries in Africa to which it...