Tyler Le/BI
Japan's long-comatose economy is finally showing proof of life.
After a catastrophic real-estate implosion in the early 1990s, the country's economy spent the next three decades shrinking. Households and businesses had to spend their money paying off debt, which prevented them from investing or starting new ventures. Wages were stagnant. And the economy slid from the world's second largest to its fourth. Animal spirits were neutered.