Positive signs, but problems remain

I recently spent two weeks in Japan that provided the opportunity to see more than 20 companies, as well as assess what implications, if any, the current economic climate has for them. The companies visited were made up of large cyclical restructuring stocks and smaller, more growth-oriented, companies. Over the past couple of months there have been signs that foreigners have been net buyers of Japanese equities. Domestic institutions, on the other hand, appear to have been selling equities and buying bonds. Meanwhile, individual investors have been net buyers of equities, particularly smal...