But Tokyo-ites and the municipal assembly are livid that billions in public funds have gone to the banks to help them write off bad debts built up over years of bad management, and overwhelmingly backed the governor.

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But with the banks in such a mess, partners may have to be lured with public money to write off their bad debts.

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The dwindling value of Japan's stockmarket has reduced the banks' capital as they struggle to write off their vast bad debts.

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Yet they provide a grim commentary on the paltry results of the efforts that Japanese banks claim to have made over the past few years to rebuild their capital and write off their substantial bad debts.

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