“Landed: The guide to buying property in Japan,” is a must-read, not just for those considering buying a property in Japan, but also for individuals who are already homeowners...

“China poised to pass Japan as world’s No. 2 economy,” reports CNN.com. Q2 GDP figures from Japan and China show the latter exceeding the former, $1.34 trillion vs. $1.29 trillion. In 2009, it was Japan ahead for the full year, at $5.07 trillion compared to China at $4.91 trillion, according to the IMF. Given the two lost decades now in Japan, this was only a matter of time.

A longtime shareholding on mine, Internet Initiative Japan (IIJI) (JP: 3774), is having its Annual Shareholder Meeting this Friday in Tokyo. I urge all ADR and Ordinary shareholders to submit their votes as soon as possible, but not later than this Thursday, 10:00 AM Eastern (NY) for ADR holders, or by Thursday, 11:59 PM Japan Standard Time for Ordinary shareholders. Also, please see my previous article detailing my activist work to-date with IIJ.

A shareholder takes the initiative with Internet Initiative Japan (IIJI), a Japanese internet service provider.

No doubt David Einhorn (Greenlight Capital) is an astute investor....

Reuters (article in Japanese) reports that Goldman Sachs issued a report earlier this week that argues M&A will be the major theme for Japanese equities in 2010....

The Mainichi Shimbun (original in Japanese) reported early Thursday that Japanese Government Bonds’ (JGBs) popularity is rapidly falling among individual investors...

More often than not, it is overseas factors that have the largest influence on trading in Japan...

This brief post was inspired by a Bloomberg story on Asian currency strength — a good read, by the way...

Below is an extract of the latest data from the U.S. Treasury concerning foreign holders of U.S. Treasuries (year-to-date through the end of August)...