The government has since promised to spend almost 3 trillion yen ($25 billion).

Sanwa is believed to have spent 1.61 million yen, or $12,900, on 40 occasions - more than $300 on average.

Let's see how much of their gross national product they can save while spending 1.7 trillion yen on a backup shortstop.

The government plans to spend 2 trillion yen ($16.7 billion) propping up Resona.

Last week, Sony said it would spend 120 billion yen ($1.14 billion) this year alone on building these chips.

As a result, Sony plans to spend 150 billion yen on restructuring efforts this fiscal year, 7 percent more than the company had announced earlier.

Official trade figures show that from 1987 through 1991 the Japanese spent more than one trillion yen, or $8.7 billion at current exchange rates, on art.

Overall, Japanese will spend 21.68 trillion yen on health care this year, or $175 billion at current exchange rates.

The average player spent five thousand yen a night here, and there were typically two hundred players at the parlor's sixty machines.

Users spend 8,400 yen ($69.40) a month with these phones, about one-quarter more than the average wireless bill.