Why the world is turning Korean first, and then Japanese

Wandering around downtown Seoul the other night, I couldn't miss the irony of a song pumping out of a karaoke club: "Turning Japanese".

I had spent the day at a conference sponsored by the Seoul metropolitan government pondering whether Asia risked its own "lost decade". The Vapors tune was popular in the 1980s as Japan thrived. Now, Japan and other parts of Asia are in a recession, or headed there.

The experience reminded me that the richest economies, including the US, are turning Korean before they go down the Japan road.