Japanese Savings

* While I agree with Jacob Heilbrunn (Opinion, Nov. 22) that the remedy for Japan is not to adopt U.S.-style capitalism, he is incorrect when he parrots the Japanese propaganda that they have $1 trillion in personal savings. That savings figure is specious because the money is in banks, not mattresses! Those banks have lent the money out. Heilbrunn then goes on to regurgitate the line that Japan has $700 billion in foreign assets. That figure is a myth because it represents money (saved by Japanese families) that was lent to Asian countries whose economies are in the tank and have no way to repay the debt. Heilbrunn is, as most Japanese are, grossly underestimating the seriousness of their economic nightmare.

LARRY SULLIVAN

Venice