Wealth & Money Quote by Toshihiko Fukui

A central banker’s version of a humblebrag: Japan is “recovering,” but not in the old, self-contained way that powered the postwar miracle. Fukui’s phrasing is deliberately technocratic, yet the intent is political. He’s laundering a potentially fraught message through the calm diction of “interdependence,” making globalization sound like a neutral weather system rather than a set of choices with winners and losers.

The key move is “in tandem.” Recovery isn’t credited solely to domestic policy discipline or corporate reform; it’s positioned as synchronized with regional supply chains, trade flows, and capital movements. That subtext matters in a Japan long attached to the idea of economic sovereignty and wary of external shocks. By specifying “particularly... the other East Asian economies,” he’s also nudging the audience to update its mental map: Japan’s future is less an exclusive partnership with the U.S. and Europe, more a dense web with China, Korea, Taiwan, and ASEAN production hubs.

Coming from a public servant (and, historically, a Bank of Japan figure), the line reads as reassurance aimed at markets and policymakers: Japan’s recovery is real because it’s structurally embedded in a broader regional expansion. It’s also a soft warning: if prosperity is now co-produced, vulnerability is co-produced too. “Interdependence” is doing double duty - legitimizing openness while quietly preparing the public for the reality that Japan can no longer fine-tune its economy without listening to the rhythms of East Asia.