"There aren't any good reasons for Japanese life insurance firms to rush to invest overseas, given the recent rise in domestic government bond yields, " Mr. Noji added.
Speculation had increased, especially among foreign investors, that Japan's life insurers and banks would rush abroad to seek higher yields as the Bank of Japan's mammoth purchases of Japanese government bonds push down returns at home.
Still, Johannesburg, which started life as a gold-rush town, is very much a go-go business city and the headquarters for most of South Africa's international companies. (This can be double-edged: Anglo Platinum recently poached its new chief executive, Ralph Havenstein, from Sasol.) It boasts the 21st-largest stock market in the world, and its financial officials have managed a respectable rebound from the 2002 rout of the rand.
