Do you think some Japanese companies in trouble, such as Toshiba and Kobe Steel, among others, are too big to be allowed to go under?

The easy answer is Yes.

But to do so would cause a bigger earthquake in the community here than has happened for a long time.

In the US, Ford did not get all the bail outs that General Motors and others got after the GFC. And in Japan, after some wonderful spectacular restructuring and ownership gymnastics, Sharp survived.

If there is good governance and responsible asset management and a good grasp of reality by the board, there are few reasons why a conglomerate should not survive. However, these three points seem missing from so many large companies here, with their interdependence and reliance on government patronage, contracts and old loyalties of people crossing from public to private sector consultative positions in retirement. Yet is it really so different in other economically developed countries?

These companies have no one to blame but themselves. They have cared only for their own self interest in a country which cares only for it's own self interest.

Times have changed and this is the result. At the end of the day, it is not the consumer who has been let down (there are plenty of electronic and steel companies in the world), it is the loyal hard working employees who have been let down.

I think that market forces will drive this one. Why put money into a bottomless pit of scandal.

Do you think some Japanese companies in trouble, such as Toshiba and Kobe Steel, among others, are too big to be allowed to go under?

I don't personally.  I believe that ANY company should be allowed to go under if that is its natural course. 

Now if the question is referring to whether I think that the powers-that-be think them too big to go under and will bail them out with our tax dollars- then the answer is yes.