Free Republic

There are queues at expensive oyster restaurants and the housewives are once again trading foreign exchange — signs that Japan’s return to economic growth has restored its confidence. The world’s second-largest economy is expected to grow 1% next year after contracting 3%. The recession has led to Japanese firms shedding 100,000 jobs since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, pushing unemployment up to 5.4%. ...Now the apocryphal “Mrs Watanabe” and her fellow traders have ventured back to the Tokyo Financial Exchange, according to brokers who report that transactions are up by more than half on a year ago.