LONDON -- At some point last year, it became fashionable to compare the economic plight of Germany and, by extension, the euro zone as a whole with the situation in Japan. As recession bit into the country that used to be Europe's motor and as the 12-nation euro area began recording declining growth rates, commentators pointed to the stagnation gripping the world's second-biggest economy on the other side of the globe as a model of what could happen when policymakers fail to bite the bullet and the air goes out of a bubble.

Now a rather different thought is surfacing: What if the paths of Japan and the euro zone, having been consigned to sit together at the back of the class, are pointing in rather different directions this summer?

What if the country that has been lambasted for years for not pulling its weight in the international economy is starting to move out of the doldrums, while the euro zone, which was only recently celebrating the rise in the value of its currency against the dollar and yen, finds itself taking over the position of the partner that was failing to help boost the international outlook?