Think of Japan as an investment market and words like ‘strength' do not automatically spring to mind.
Over the very long term, Japan’s equity markets have been breathtakingly weak. Buyers of the Nikkei 225 at its peak 20 years ago have since lost three quarters of their money, and those who bought in 1984 just reached break-even. Purchasing power has been flimsy, with deflation the order of the day. And sentiment of both domestic and foreign investors towards Japan’s future has been shaky for a very long time. The yen stood out as strong, but that makes the outlook for exporters (including many of the economy’s mainstays) – you guessed it – weak. Despite Standard & Poor’s one-notch...
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