I know that no great reform is accomplished without pain and resistance. I also know that the countries of Asean are awaiting Japan’s structural reform and the return of a dynamic Japanese economy. When it comes to the global economy, rain does not fall on one roof alone.The reason the Japanese economy stagnated for such a long period in the 1990s is clear; Japan’s previous success had made us complacent. Despite the significant changes in the global economy, Japan failed to respond by reforming its political and economic structures. To succeed under such conditions, a country needs a free and efficient market that can be trusted by global investors and consumers alike.These challenges are as important for the countries of Asean as they are for Japan. The Asian financial crisis showed us that the Asean countries also required new economic structures Change is not easy for individuals or for countries.

Someone once said that courage consists of the power to let go of the familiar – and that is what we must do.I believe that East Asia’s whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. If you took a poll of the world’s economists and asked them what region of the world they believe to have the greatest potential in the immediate future, I have no doubt of their answer; they would say East Asia. By co-operating, I believe we can gain the critical mass to advance this potential.While recognising our historical, cultural, ethnic and traditional diversity, I would like to see countries in the region become a group that works together. Our pasts may be varied and divergent, but our futures can be united and supportive of each other.I am a great fan of opera.

To me, the appeal of opera lies in the fact that a myriad of singers and instruments, each possessed of different qualities of voice and sound, against the backdrop of a grand stage and beautiful costumes, come together in one complete and impressive drama. The community that I have outlined today is exactly such a creation.. What innocence! When I first read about Tesco, Sainsbury’s and the like experimenting with “happy hour”, I envisaged a qualitative leap in what market researchers would call my shopping experience. I could stroll around one of these mega-markets at seven in the evening, holding a glass of wine in one hand, steering the gleaming new trolley with the other, and making civilised small talk with my equally unhassled fellow customers. The weekly shop would start to resemble a private view evening at the National Gallery, the only real distinction being that you could – nay, should – take stuff off the displays. Happy hour in new supermarket-speak is just another term for what in other areas of commercial life – planes, trains and hotels, to name but three – is known as “yield management”.

The idea (their idea) is to persuade you to do things you do not particularly want to do – like shop at an inconvenient time of day or take a holiday in a place and at a time when it is likely to rain – to help the provider maximise its profit.The supermarket version of happy hour is to reduce the price of selected goods on particular days at particular times to convince you to go shopping. So, having become wearily used to the notion that a train ticket for the same route can cost anything from, say, £5 to £100, depending how far in advance you book, what time of day you want to travel and how many of you travel together, we must now apparently accustom ourselves to the variably priced kilo of low-fat margarine or litre of milk.If you can make it to Tesco, for instance, in the middle of a Monday morning (when supermarkets are often empty), you may be able to knock pounds off your bill. But if you have to shop in the supermarket “rush-hour”, no such reductions will apply. You will not only be subject to the usual deprivations – poorly stocked shelves, crowds vying for trolley-space and queues at the check-outs – you will have to pay more for those privileges.Nor need the “happy hour” concept stop there.