According to well informed insiders, the Japanese banking crisis shows
no signs of amelioration. It's getting worse.

Following last week's news that Origami Bank had folded, we are hearing
that Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank's growth has been
stunted and now it plans to trim back some of its branches.

Karaoke Bank is up for sale and is going for a song. Meanwhile, shares
in Kamikaze Bank have nose-dived and 500 back office staff at Karate
Bank got the chop. Analysts report that there is something fishy going
on at Sushi Bank and staff there fear they may get a raw deal.

Even Miso Bank is in hot soup, and an audit of the Tofu Bank is turning
up questions about it's REAL assets.

The only ray of light in all this is the arrival of a new bank rising
out of the ashes of the others. Its name - Hiroshima Savings, and their
slogan - "we've survived worse than this!" Its merger with the
Teppanyaki Bank is still hot and on the table.