Borderless Investor

More evidence that the Japanese banking crisis is officially ancient history. Bloomberg reports that Japan’s best and brightest are now interested in working in finance:

The fastest economic growth in 15 years and record profits of $27 billion in fiscal 2005 helped financial companies overtake electronics makers as the biggest recruiters at Japan’s most selective universities, including the top two schools, University of Tokyo and Keio University.

“Japanese banks are now being very aggressive and have changed their posture to offense from defense,'’ said Akira Ukaji, a 21-year-old majoring in politics at Keio University in Tokyo. “I want to join Mitsubishi UFJ and take on overseas banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'’

Obviously this won’t pay off overnight, but it’s an encouraging development for a sector that’s desperately in need of fresh talent.