JAPAN

Bankruptcies Soar: Japanese bankruptcies soared 138% in November and will rise further in coming months as small companies suffer from bad real estate and stock market investments, according to the Tokyo Commerce and Industry Research Co. “Tiny companies are going bankrupt with debts which seem wildly out of proportion to their business scale, because in many cases these debts are not caused by their main business,” a company analyst noted. The debts are mainly because of losses suffered after excessive investments in stock and real estate during the “bubble economy” era of soaring land and stock prices.