No country is more mystifying to outsiders than Japan. On the surface it is a modern capitalist democracy. Behind this mask is a society where tradition runs deep and political and economic power is wielded by a bureaucracy with a neo-mercantilist agenda.
Global investors often find Japan baffling, particularly those based in other countries and without a first-hand knowledge of it. Financial laws dont work in Japan as Western economic theory suggests because Japan doesnt practice Anglo-Saxon capitalism. Some investors have had to learn this the hard way.
Brian Baker, CEO and director at PIMCO Asia in Singapore, tells a common tale. PIMCO is a California-based fixed-income investment giant, with $200 billion...
