Japan's firms are on an unprecedented shopping tour overseas. The value of January-October M&As hit a record ¥6.7 trillion, nearly four times more than a year earlier. The largest was Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's $9 billion investment in Morgan Stanley.

Another deal was Nomura's acquisition of key units of Lehman Brothers, which made even more global headlines. And, last December — before the financial crisis — Millea Holdings bought U.K. insurer Kiln in the largest buy of a foreign firm by a Japanese insurer to date.

Do these acquisitions mean Japanese service firms are set to rival Japanese manufacturers, long established players on the global stage?