If you get rich by selling goods to wastrels, do not expect to survive when your customers run out of money. The Japanese government has been loath to take measures to stimulate domestic consumer demand and reduce Japan’s export-dependency as the big spending deficit countries have fallen into recession. But as Japan’s recent economic results demonstrate, the surplus countries can ill afford to wait for a world recovery. The Tokyo government must get Japan’s frugal savers to spend freely.

In the middle of last year, exports accounted for 18 per cent of Japan’s output. In common with the other big current account surplus countries – notably China and Germany – the Japanese economy is structured to feed off the excess demand of other nations. But this both couples them to, and exacerbates, the vulnerabilities of the deficit economies.