Masaaki Shirakawa: Global financial crisis and policy responses by the Bank of Japan Speech by Mr Masaaki Shirakawa, Governor of the Bank of Japan, to the Board of Councillors of Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), Tokyo, 22 December 2008. *  *  *  Introduction I am honored to have this opportunity to speak before business leaders in Japan here today.
Time flies, and it is only about a week before the turn of the year. Looking back, this year has been a particularly severe one both for overseas economies and Japan's economy.