More good news from Japan

The problem with anything Japanese is that it all depends on your point of view. Three Japanese groups fail with more than $10.4 billion worth of debts. Tokai bank has just announced that it will forgive more than $3 billion worth of debts. Shareholders - other banks - in LTCB will get nothing from last year's forced nationalization. And Nomura - once the flagship of Japan's financial services industry - has recently announced losses of $4.6 billion, has been downgraded to junk status and has said goodbye to Max Chapman, the chairman and chief executive of Nomura Securities International.