TOKYO: The Middle East is in flames. There is a war in Europe. America is in turmoil. Fortunately, I am in Japan. Here, the cherry blossom season is coming to a gentle end.
The idea that Japan is a haven in troubled times has obviously occurred to a few other people. Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Alibaba, moved to the country after falling out of favour in his native China.
Shortly after arriving in Tokyo, I passed Roman Abramovich – the much-sanctioned Russian oligarch – on a side-street in Omotesando, a fashionable shopping district. (It was just a brief glimpse, but those listless, unshaven features are hard to mistake.)
It is not just billionaires who have decided that, all things considered, Japan looks like a good bet at the moment. The country is currently undergoing a tourist boom – as travellers flock in, attracted by the cheap yen (which recently hit a 34-year low), as well as the food, culture and shopping.
Investors are also taking a fresh look. A visit to Japan by the legendary investor Warren Buffett last year was seen as an endorsement. The Nikkei share index has risen by about 30 per cent over the past 12 months – finally surpassing the level it last reached in 1989, at the height of the bubble years.
That symbolic moment has prompted hope that, after 30 years of torpor, the Japanese economy is finally on the move.
