Postcard from Japan: Creative solutions to the low-growth environment

Headlines 'don't reflect the whole story'

When people talk about Japan, they often do so in the context of 'lost decades' and warnings of limited growth opportunities.

Nearly one third of the population is over the age of 65, inflation is stubbornly low and predictions for future economic growth are not encouraging. While talk of demographic doom often dominates headlines about Japan, a recent visit with my research team assured me that it also contains some interesting investment opportunities. Japan: Is all the bad news now priced in? For example, some Japanese companies are coming up with creative solutions to a relatively low-growth domestic environment. Perhaps the best example is Recruit, which Bloomberg recently dubbed "Japan's Top Contend...