They might still be, though it is clearly worrying that investment banks, investors and (most frightening of all) newspapers the world over have bought the Japanese recovery story of late, albeit with a dose of scepticism.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood: Eastward ho! | The

The economic news at home was worrying though it would have been grimmer still were it not for the healthy growth in recent years in exports to China.

ECONOMIST: Banyan

Even though the payments were made by a distributor, the courts still held the manufacturer responsible a worrying precedent for firms that use agents of different kinds.

ECONOMIST: The global crackdown on corporate bribery