With global fear and uncertainty leading to a plummeting Nikkei Index, we look at why Japan is so investment cautious, and what opportunities lay for those braver ones seeking to find a diamond within the ashes.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and since the cash flow problems were for good reasons, i.e., high growth, I felt that cutting back on employees or job-related costs wasn’t the right answer. Further, since I wasn’t getting paid a salary most months, in order to help the cash flow, adjusting my costs would have had no effect either. Finally I came to realize that what I really needed was more sales during the down months, but at no extra cost to the firm. In other words, I personally had to get back out on the street and start creating some new revenue.

The purchase of the collapsed Lehman Brothers by Nomura was more for the benefit of gaining its highly skilled employees. But reports are coming in that the staff may not be as willing to stay as the conservative securities company may have hoped...

Terrie LloydBy Terrie Lloyd -- It is no secret that market entry consultants everywhere have developed a bad reputation for being expensive and simply telling you things that you already know. But the fact is that countries where most outsiders don’t speak the language, such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China, not having a bilingual person on the ground could lock you out of that market completely.