Sometimes large-scale foreign borrowing makes sense.

That change was expected to allow small businesses to continue buying policies, but stop large-scale borrowing by big companies.

The entire system is operating under a new five-year plan that raised fares and used the increased revenue to underwrite large-scale borrowing.

"This is the first time since the end of World War II that Japan has undertaken large-scale direct borrowing to cover recurring expenses," he said.

But backers of the new authority said large-scale borrowing was not part of their plan.

Nor does it bear another Southeast Asian nemesis: large-scale short-term borrowing by banks in dollars to finance domestic loans.

The cash from the sale of the assets, he said, would be invested conservatively and without the large-scale borrowing and risky financial instruments known as derivatives that led to the heavy losses.

Such large-scale borrowing "will prevent rates from falling back toward 8 percent," he said.

The railroad boom required so much capital, however, that large-scale borrowing was required, and international financiers became investment bankers.

The country fell further into debt due to large-scale borrowing aimed at improving living standards.