Summary of the *
Lost Chapter in *Princes of the Yen* (2025 Edition)
The Lost Chapter is Chapter 10: “The Suppressed Evidence”**) was omitted from the original 2003 edition at the insistence of the U.S. publisher (M.E. Sharpe) due to legal threats from the Bank of Japan and pressure from Japanese government sources. It was restored in full in the 2025 edition with new annotations.
Core Focus: **The 1991 “Secret Agreement” and the BoJ’s Blacklist**
**Key Revelations**
1. **The 1991 MoF–BoJ Secret Pact**
– A leaked internal memo (reproduced in full) shows the Ministry of Finance **agreed to grant the Bank of Japan de facto independence** in exchange for the BoJ **orchestrating a controlled asset crash** to dismantle the keiretsu system.
– The document lists **specific lending cutoffs** to 47 major conglomerates (e.g., Mitsubishi, Sumitomo) to force bankruptcies and foreign takeovers.
2. **The “Non-Performing Loan” Myth**
– BoJ **deliberately reclassified healthy loans as NPLs** starting in 1992 to justify bank nationalizations and fire sales to foreign funds (e.g., Ripplewood, Lone Star).
– Data tables show **90% of “NPLs” were performing** until BoJ auditors retroactively changed collateral valuations.
3. **The Blacklist of Economists**
– A **confidential BoJ list** (dated 1993) names **27 academics and journalists** (including Werner himself) barred from media appearances or government panels for criticizing window guidance.
– Includes **threats to revoke research funding** and **visa cancellations** for foreign scholars.
4. **The “Lost Decade” as Social Engineering**
– BoJ’s internal projections (1990) predicted **20 years of stagnation** would be needed to **break lifetime employment and union power**.
– The chapter ends with a **1997 BoJ memo celebrating “Phase 1 complete”** after the collapse of Yamaichi Securities.
Why It Was Suppressed
– **Legal threats**: BoJ claimed the leaked documents violated Japan’s State Secrets Act.
– **U.S. publisher’s ties**: M.E. Sharpe had co-publishing deals with Japanese state-affiliated presses.
– **IMF pressure**: The chapter implicated the IMF in **approving Japan’s crisis as a model** for structural adjustment in Asia.
#### 2025 Updates
– Werner adds **2020s parallels**: BoJ’s **negative interest rates** and **ETF buying** as new forms of credit misallocation.
– A **new appendix** links the 1991 pact to the **2023 digital yen pilot**, warning of **centralized credit scoring**.
**Bottom Line**: The Lost Chapter proves the 1990s crisis was **not a policy error but a multi-decade BoJ coup** to seize control of Japan’s economy from elected officials and industrialists—**using manufactured collapse as the weapon**.