[kazoolist]

I stopped reading the article when I hit "Given that Japan's current account surplus (the widest and most meaningful measure of its trade) ...".

A positive current account balance is pretty useless figure for the robustness of a country's trade. A country could have extremely robust foreign trade and have a zero or negative current account balance.

The US, for instance, during our economic boom times often (always?) had a negative current account balance.

And if I were analyzing the Japanese economy, the giant current account surplus would give me pause because it begs the questions:

a.) Why are the Japanese not importing more? b.) Why aren't foreign companies making more capital investments in Japan?

Each of which contribute as much to the enormity of the capital account surplus as their healthy amount of exports.