Japan is the world's second largest economy - but it's stuck in an apparently inexplicable rut. 'Saving the Sun' takes a bank that has been at the cutting edge of Japan's woes - Shinsei - and uses its story to analyse why Japan's economic problems are so insurmountable. Formerly known as Long Term Credit Bank, Shinsei was once the ninth largest bank in the world. However, its collapse in 1998 marked the largest bank failure ever seen in global history. A team of American and European investors then acquired the bank in an unprecedented deal. 'Saving the Sun' relates the battles surrounding this extraordinary venture, told through the intimate stories of three remarkable men- Katsunobu Onagi, the last president of LTCB, who epitomized the traditional Japanese banking world and its 'samurai' values; Tim Collins, the brash American who dreamt of converting Japan to Wall Street type reform; and Masamoto Yashiro, the Japanese executive who ended up trying to run Shinsei bank - and reconcile the cultural gulf that still exists between Japan and the international banking community.

Gillian Tett was trained as a social anthropologist but became a journalist while doing fieldwork in Soviet Central Asia during the communist period in Russia. Since that time she has risen through the ranks of the Financial Times, holding positions on its economics desk before becoming the bureau chief in Japan. She now lives in London.