Stefan Mileschin

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has picked a strange role model upon which to base his cunning plan to save the Land of the Rising Sun's economy.

In a speech to the Japanese Diet, Abe was asked about his cunning plan to get Japan to start growing again. Things are not going that well in Japan and there are those who would like it to do a little better.

To rally the troops Abe used the purveyor of the Wii itself, Nintendo:

"Over there, Nintendo made hanafuda cards, but gradually the people playing hanafuda decreased. However, that company called Nintendo makes hanafuda cards and whatnot, and I believe that only by doing that, it wasn't able to protect hanafuda," Abe said.

He said that Nintendo used technical expertise to lead the way in developing home video game consoles while at the same time keeping the traditional hanafuda cards. He thinks that this is something that the Japanese can learn.

Four years ago, Abe might have had an argument with his Nintendo comparisons. If Abe had time to check Nintendo financial statements, he might have not mentioned the outfit.

http://news.techeye.net/business/jap...for-role-model