From its postwar ruins, the Japanese economy has developed to the stage where decisions taken in Japan on economic matters have a major policy implications for the global economy. This is particularly true of Japanese foreign investment decisions. It is also true, but perhaps to a lesser degree,...

Japan's 120 million consumers can buy their groceries at over 600,000 stores. In comparison, the 230 million consumers living in the United States are served by less than 40% this number of stores. Like the agricultural sector which supplies about half of the food sold through Japanese stores,...