|
| ASIAWEEK.COM |
|
CNN.COM |
|
east asia |
|
southeast asia |
|
south asia |
|
central asia |
|
australasia |
|
BUSINESS |
|
SPORTS |
|
SHOWBIZ |
|
ASIA WEATHER |
|
ASIA TRAVEL |
|
From TIME Asia
Culture on Demand: Black is Beautiful The American Express black card is the ultimate status symbol Asia Buzz: Should the Net Be Free? Web heads want it all -- for nothing JAPAN: Failed Revolution Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori clings to power as dissidents in his party finally decide not to back a no-confidence motion Cover: Endgame? After Florida's controversial ballot recount, Bush holds a 537-vote lead in the state, which could give him the election |
|
TIME Digest
FORTUNE.com FORTUNE China MONEY.com |
|
TIME Asia Services |
|
Subscribe to TIME! Get up to 3 MONTHS FREE!
Bookmark TIME TIME Media Kit Recent awards |
|
 |
|
about Asia Buzz | more Asia Buzz Brother, Can You Lend a Liver? Japanese loan sharks get into the organ transplant business By PETER McKILLOP November 3, 1999 Web posted at 9:30 a.m. Hong Kong time, 9:30 p.m. EDT For many Japanese people, the issue of organ transplants is an unspoken, almost shameful topic. For religious, cultural and regulatory reasons, it is almost impossible to get one in Japan. Instead Japanese in need of a new kidney, liver or eyeball furtively use middlemen to search Asia for the needed organ.
The organ scandal highlights two gross inefficiencies in Japan's statist marketplace. One involves the spectacular expansion of "shoko," or consumer finance companies, also known in the West as loan shark operations. Japan's prolonged recession has made it profitable for loan companies to offer rates of up to 40%--despite interest rates being at historic lows in Japan--because traditional banks are refusing to risk lending unsecured loans. That leaves individuals with little choice but to go to the high-flying loan companies and pay the usurious rates. The truly insidious connection with Japan's other consumer need--organs for transplant--is, one must hope, a one-time-only excess of an out-of-control loan shark. What it underscores, however, is the extraordinary lengths Japanese will go to in order buy a desperately needed organ. It is, however, a vile Faustian bargain that preys on the fears and anxieties of Asia's most vulnerable citizens. None of this would be necessary if Japan had a more efficient market in both consumer finance and body parts. There is no reason that Japanese consumers should be forced to pay 40% interest on a loan when the Finance Ministry is shoveling money into traditional banks for almost nothing. Nor should they be forced to use sleazy middlemen to search Asia's most desperate barrios for a man hungry enough to sell a kidney. The Japanese government allows these kinds of practices because it does not understand how a system of supply and demand works. In both arenas there is obviously a need that is not being met by legitimate businesses and organizations. Instead, the market has created conditions that capitalize on the desperation of people. What the Japanese government must accept is that consumers--not bureaucrats--dictate markets. No government decree can stop the need for a kidney or lung, if that is what it takes to survive. Write to us at mail@web.timeasia.com Search for recent Asia Buzz
|
ASIA BUZZ
ASIAWEEK
