In this age of “Japan passing”, when the lure of fast-growing Asian powerhouses trumps that of the world’s second-biggest economy, it is worth trotting out a few old facts. According to the International Monetary Fund, Japan in 2006 was still five times the size of India and not far off twice the size of China in nominal gross domestic product terms.
The booming Australian economy would fit neatly inside that of Greater Nagoya, Japan’s fourth city that is home to Toyota, while Canada’s economy is roughly the same size as that of Kanto, the industrial region centred on Osaka.
