Following the report of Japan's first annual trade deficit in more than 30 years, the country's major manufacturers have been delivering earnings results soaked in red ink.
The factories that once powered the economy by churning out world-beating electronics, cars, and machinery are either being relocated overseas or losing out to Asian rivals.
Japan will now have to come to terms with a new post-industrial economy that will see it increasingly rely on income from overseas investments.
Japan recorded a trade deficit of nearly 2.5 trillion yen ($32 billion) in 2011 as a storm literally battered its industries. The March tsunami destroyed factories, ports, and infrastructure, disrupting supply chains across the country and the globe. (csmonitor.com)
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