Keeping Track: Japanese bankruptcies

More companies may close doors in 2000

Invested in Japanese companies? Many Americans are. Arthur Alexander of the Japan Economic Institute of America notes that total US investment in Japan in 1999 was about $50 billion, according to US Department of Commerce figures.

So how is corporate Japan faring these days?

The number of bankruptcies is likely to tally up to more than 19,000 by the end of 2000, warns New York-based Teikoku Databank. That's one of the highest levels in 50 years, says Japan's leading corporate information company.

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society