Shabu shabu is a simple but delicious Japanese dish in which translucently thin slices of beef are dipped into a boiling broth of vegetables and tofu. A few seconds will do; just enough for the meat to turn pinky-grey.
In Japanese finance shabu shabu is the enduring symbol of the mid-1990s banking crisis. It was at a shabu shabu restaurant in Shinjuku – staffed by mini-skirted waitresses sans underwear – that top Japanese bankers regularly entertained the ministry officials who were supposed to be supervising them. The entertainment fulfilled its purpose. The men from the ministry turned a blind eye to Japan's deepening bad loan crisis until 1997, when banks began to implode and the whole system teetered on the brink of failure.
Numerous lessons have been drawn from Japan's “lost decade”, mostly focusing on technical issues of monetary policy and banking regulation. Less attention has been paid to the political lessons that the Japanese themselves drew from their travails. These cast an intriguing light on the current debate about market failure, the role of government and the future of capitalism.