Hopes were high for Japan's economic resurgence at a New Year's party for corporate executives Thursday at a time when profits are rebounding, consumers are spending and stock prices are at five-year highs.
For the first time in years, the mood was positively ebullient at the annual gathering at a Tokyo hotel. In previous years, as Japan struggled through a 15-year period of stagnation, business executives were noticeably less sanguine.
"Your eyes are shining brightly," Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Hiroshi Okuda, who heads the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), the nation's most influential business lobby, told the crowd.