Over the last 3 months, the trend of fewer bankruptcies is gathering momentum and under normal circumstances one might might be forgiven for thinking that the economy is recovering.

The company owes about JPY2.5trn (US$31bn) to the banks and other bond holders, a crushing debt burden, with shares slipping from around JPY800 this time last year to just JPY198 on Friday.

The nation's leading seller of condominiums in Japan in 2007, filed for bankruptcy this last week...