Eiji Hosoya is the man who masterminded the massive privatization of Japan's sprawling national rail network 23 years ago

He still speaks of shinkansen â ' Japan's ultra-cool and ultra-fast bullet trains â ' with a passion. Today, nimble and a youthful-looking 65, he's the chairman of Resona Holdings, the country's fourth-largest bank that suffered the ignominy of nationalization in 2003.

Banking may seem an odd choice for a man who's worked for Japan National Railways and East Japan Railway for over 30 years, but government insiders thought Mr. Hosoya had what it took to turn around a failed and decaying bank.

But Mr. Hosoya, one of Japan's most respected business leaders, says more broadly that Japan may also fail and continue to stagnate if the country doesn't take urgent action to turn its fortunes around. The problem with Japan is that 'we have weak leaders,' said Mr. Hosoya bluntly, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. 'Unless Japan changes, in five years from now, the country will become so weak.'

Mr. Hosoya says Japan needs to aggressively capitalize on its three biggest strengths: its strong service culture; technology; and, more broadly, Japanese culture. 'We have to appeal to South Korea, China and Taiwan â ' this is the volume zone for Japan and its services,' he said.