Tokyo nightclub owner Sakura Masui is nowhere close to the modern-day geisha girl she appears to be, shuffling demurely in a purple kimono as she pours drinks and chats in hushed tones.
The 34-year-old former office worker and bar hostess had the vision and the business smarts to exploit Japan's biggest economic disease: the downward spiraling of prices known as deflation that is eroding profits, paychecks and growth while leaving analysts and politicians alike clueless about a solution.
For the first time since the Great Depression of the 1930s in the United States, fears are growing around the world about deflation.