Watch Princes of the Yen

Princes of the Yen is a striking documentary film that delves into the complex and enigmatic world of Japanese banking and finance. The movie, which was directed by Michael Oswald, presents a thought-provoking and engaging analysis of the financial system of one of the world’s largest economies. The film is based on a book written by Professor Richard Werner, who is also a featured speaker in the documentary.

For anyone interested in understanding how the Japanese economy works (or doesn’t work), Princes of the Yen offers a detailed and fascinating look at the country’s monetary policy, which is designed and executed by the Bank of Japan. Through interviews with academics, economists, and policymakers, the film offers deep insight into the history of Japanese monetary policy, how it was implemented, and how it has influenced the nation’s economy over the past few decades.

The central argument of the movie is that policymakers in Japan, through the Bank of Japan’s control of the nation’s money supply, have been the key determiners of the country’s economy, shaping everything from employment to inflation. The film goes back in time to reveal how the Japanese economy in the immediate post-WWII era was almost completely taken over by the U.S. government, which forced Japan to implement policies that were meant to keep it from becoming a political and economic threat.

The film takes a closer look at what happened during the 1980s, when Japan became one of the biggest economic powers in the world. Through interviews, data analysis, and projections, the movie makes the case that the Bank of Japan had a major hand in Japan’s meteoric rise to the top of the global economy. The film portrays Japan’s amazing economic ascent as being the product of the work of a small group of men, who are referred to as the “Princes of the Yen”. These men used their enormous power at the Bank of Japan to manipulate exchange rates and the money supply to achieve economic growth without inflation.

While the film highlights the positive contributions of the “Princes of the Yen” to Japan’s economy, it also exposes the dark side of their power. The movie shows how their control over Japan’s economy was also responsible for the country’s property and stock market crashes, two of the worst in world history. The events of the 1990s, when the Japanese economy started its more than two-decades-long stagnation, are portrayed as the outcome of the unintended consequences of a powerful group of policymakers who were only thinking about how to maintain their grip on Japan’s economy.

The movie is stunningly edited and carefully constructed, presenting its arguments in clear and compelling ways. The interviews with Richard Werner and Noriko Yamagiwa, who is a professor of economics at the University of Tokyo, are especially compelling. Werner has been one of the key voices researching the economic history of Japan and his insights are fascinating. Yamagiwa, too, brings a fresh perspective on the state of the Japanese economy, having been on the front lines of the Bank of Japan’s policy-making.

One of the more intriguing aspects of the movie is the use of archival footage, which paints a vivid picture of Japanese pop culture in the early to mid-1990s, when the country was in the midst of financial crisis. The shots of neon cityscapes, oversize vending machines, and fedoras are all captured in the film, giving viewers a sense of what it was like to live in Japan during that turbulent period. The film’s use of sound and music also deserves special mention, as it lends the movie an energy and drive that is unusual for a documentary.

Princes of the Yen is a brilliant documentary that makes sense of a hugely complex subject, breaking down the history of Japan’s economy in a clear and understandable way. With a gentle but incisive touch, the movie shows that a handful of people with enormous power can have immense consequences for millions of people. Through presenting the fascinating story of Japan’s economy and the people who have shaped it, the film puts into question the wider role of central banks in global economies – it is a must-watch for anyone who wants to understand how monetary policy affects our lives.

Princes of the Yen is a 2014 documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 32 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.5.