TOKYO � In the annals of economic policy blunders, the one in which Hiroshi Kato played a hand in early 1997 ranks among the biggest in recent Japanese history. Mr. Kato led a government advisory committee that concluded that the economy, which was then finally starting to rebound from the collapse of its 1980s land and stock bubbles, was healthy enough to raise the national consumption tax to 5 p
![U.S. Hears Echo of Japan’s Woes (Published 2010)](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/7222101bb89832ae8425aff6b87e2cc0a31f8d59/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fnewsgraphics%2Fimages%2Ficons%2FdefaultPromoCrop.png%3Fyear%3D2010)