The role of the yen in the International financial system is reconsidered from a comparative (historical) approach. Compared with the D-Mark in the postwar years, the limited use of the yen results not so much from regulations on capital movements as from the structure and behavior of Japanese economy. The history of the pound-sterling and the U.S. dollar reveals the fact that such factors as the network of foreign trade and economic size constitute the basis and “inertia” of a key-currency. Thus for a currency to rise to a key-position in global transactions, real factors are more decisive than financial market arrangement. Seen from the foreign economic relations, it is not possible for Japan to own a key-currency independent from the U.S. dollar.

The role of the Japanese yen as an international currency is assessed. It is found that the determinants of international-currency use imply some increase for the yen’s use in international finance; however, the implications for the yen’s use in international trade are mixed. It is also shown that, despite Japan’s emergence as the world’s largest net creditor nation, Japan’s capital outflows have not significantly facilitated the yen’s internationalization. Data are presented showing that, although the yen’s use as an international currency has increased, it is still rather modest. Wider use of the yen as a regional currency in Asia has occurred, though a “yen-zone” does not appear to be emerging.

The yen is an important barometer for the Japanese economy. Depreciations are typically associated with favorable economic developments such as increased corporate profits, rising equity prices, and upward pressure on domestic consumer prices. On the other hand, large and sharp appreciations run the risk of lowering actual and expected inflation, squeezing corporate profits, generating a negative wealth effect through depressed equity prices, and reducing confidence in the Bank of Japan’s efforts to reflate the domestic economy and achieve the inflation target. This paper takes a closer look at underlying drivers of rapid yen appreciations, highlighting the key role of carry-trade and the zero lower bound as important amplifiers.

Japan experienced a remarkable growth in international finance, through a series of liberalization measures in the 1980s. However, her position in the global financial system is still limited, as the reserve currency share of yen illustrates. Why does such a contrast exist? Historical comparison with Britain and the United States as well as extensive data provide a key to answer the question.

Wherever there is money, there is money politics-a subject demanding ever greater attention at a time when monetary policies lead and the real economy follows. A principal defining characteristic of the contemporary global economy, Jonathan Kirshner contends, is the rise and preeminence of monetary phenomena—international financial crises, Central Bank Independence and inflation fighting, the creation of the euro, and monetary reform in emerging economies, to name only a few. Moreover, unlike most debates in political economy (such as those regarding trade policy), which are generally recognized as political, monetary phenomena and macroeconomic policies are typically represented as expressly apolitical. In Monetary Orders, a distinguished group of scholars explores the inescapable political origins of choices about money. The essays in Monetary Orders each address a specific issue or puzzle relating to money and its management. Their authors focus on markedly disparate cases but share a common observation: for most policy choices about money, market forces and economic logic can rule out certain options, but are indeterminate in explaining why one policy rather than another will be chosen. Ultimately, political factors are essential to explain fundamental and consequential choices about money.

The Internationalization of Japan provides the English-speaking reader with the opportunity to hear what some of Japan's leading social scientists and other commentators have to say about the internationalization of their country as well as their country's impact overseas. The topic is of extreme importance now as the international community demands a greater Japanese contribution to international society as well as changes in Japan to facilitate foreign access. The book discusses the internationalization of politics, economy and society. Topics of special interest include the internationalization of Japanese capital, the response of Japanese society to foreign workers, local level initiatives for internationalization and the internationalization of education. To place the internationalization of Japan in comparative perspective there are chapters on Britain and the United States from a leading British and a leading American political scientist respectively. These two and the editors aside, all the contributors are highly regarded Japanese scholars or commentators.