U.S. Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker on Monday reiterated that Tokyo must implement structural reforms, centering on cleaning up the bad-loan mess, as quickly as possible to rehabilitate the country's economy.
"We support the structural reform. We acknowledge it will cause dislocation, but we believe doing it promptly and doing it quickly is much better than dragging it out," Baker told a group of reporters at his residence. "There is also an old American saying, 'Fast loss is the best loss,' which means that the sooner you do it, the sooner it's over."
He then added, "It will not be an easy time."