Japan

• Japan today is in a very different situation, with two decades of economic malaise, a shrinking, aging population, frighteningly high levels of government debt, a major nuclear disaster to its north, and tense relations with its neighbors.
• In a vote in Buenos Aires this weekend, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has granted Tokyo the right to hold the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.
• On the final day of trading 2013, Japanese shares closed with an annual gain of 57 percent  the highest ever since 1972. That this occurred this year is no coincidence – Shinzo Abe’s three-pronged strategy for Japan’s economy dubbed “Abenomics” is working.