sidestep

今頃はスイスでのプレゼンも終了していることでしょう。その麻生副首相が珍説を提起しました。ほんまかいな？sudestepは「横へ一歩寄る」のほか、「（問題などを）避ける、やり過ごす」という意味もあります。このことばサッカーなどにもカタカナでそのまま取り入れられていますので、イメージはしやすいですね。（UG）

Did Poor English Save Japan From Subprime?

You would think Japanese banks learned a thing or two from the collapse of the country’s asset bubble in the 1980s and the bad loan mess of 1990s. And indeed, they did manage to sidestep two of the biggest financial shocks in more recent memory—the U.S. subprime meltdown and the European sovereign-debt crisis.

Want to know their risk-avoidance technique? Japan’s finance minister has an answer: poor English.

“Many people, especially European banks, were hit by dubious financial products such as subprime loans,” Finance Minister Taro Aso said in a lecture Friday sponsored by the daily Yomiuri Shimbun.

“Japanese bank managers didn’t understand English much,” he continued, “so they couldn’t get drawn into the trouble.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2013/06/28/did-poor-english-save-japan-from-subprime/