Hugh Young: Japan 'miserable' place for returns

JAPAN

Japan does not seem to have suffered more than any other country during this global downturn.

Nor – which will come as a surprise to many – did it lag the world in the 10 years prior to it, at least as far as its equity market is concerned (though its economy has been weaker than most). Asian investors who have been light in Japan since 1986 – limiting their exposure to competitive global players such as Toyota, Canon, Fanuc, Honda and Omron, rather than inert domestic keiretsu (Japan’s business groups) – have been proved right, insofar as the rest of Asia, driven by China and India, has ploughed ahead in the past two decades. However, it is right to continue to heavily underw...