With Japan ranked as only the 27th-easiest place to do business in the world, Tokyo still has a ways to go on critical reforms. Yet, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe already having brought new hope to the nation — as well as, critics might note, perhaps renewed tensions in the region — the third- largest economy in the world still has many a lesson to share with the likes of Yangon and Mogadishu.
After all, when it comes to doing business, there are few places worse, it seems, than the likes of Myanmar and Somalia. That's at least, according to the World Bank, which has Myanmar ranked as worst in Asia — at 182nd of 189 economies — on the ease of doing business.
Rounding out the "Top Five" for worst in Asia in "The World Bank 2014 Doing Business" report — the latest annual assessment of the ease of doing business in economies around the world — are Timor-Leste (179th), Afghanistan (164th), Laos (159th) and the Federated States of Micronesia (156th).