JAPAN

Trade Barriers Cost Consumers, Study Says: According to a study by the Institute for International Economics, the trade barriers that keep foreign goods out of Japan cost consumers as much as $110 billion in 1989 (or as much as $150 billion at current exchange rates) but enrich Japanese companies, making it politically difficult to dismantle them. The study says that Japanese consumers are starting to realize that food and clothing are far more expensive in Tokyo than in New York and that they are beginning to complain about practices that keep less-expensive imports off the shelves.