Japan's corporate sector is said to be awash in money. Many companies, having improved their balance sheets dramatically in recent years, now hold a large amount of surplus funds. For many of them, the crushing debt burden that was once a heavy drag on business development is said to be a thing of the past.
By contrast, the public sector remains deep in the red, with debt owed by the central and local governments approaching a level that analysts say is unsustainable. Meanwhile, life is getting more difficult for an increasing number of workers because of pay cuts and low wages.
The money glut in the corporate sector is disquieting for a number of reasons, a major one being that the surplus is not necessarily being put to effective use. Companies are holding extra funds mostly in the form of security assets, which means that they are not marked for the most productive investment.