mk

Japan is in a rough spot. Their demographics are aging at an impressive pace, and because you can have two or three generations born on Japanese soil without naturalization they have no immigrant growth to buttress them the way the US and lots of Europe does.

They also handled their economic crisis of the '80s poorly, leading to The Lost Decade which is rolling up on 20 years. The kids that grew up in the Lost Decade don't have very good jobs, either, which means the graying population are still the breadwinners.

The Abe administration is attempting to counter these two economic calamities with Abenomics in an attempt to spend themselves out of the problem. It has not, as of yet, been successful. Japan is also a nation of savers, which is great for personal stability but not so great from an economic standpoint (you want all that money out there rubbing against itself and making babies). If you felt like betting on Japan you'd be in the minority.

You're right about Ford, though. I know a guy who made a killing on it during the recession and his mom has been at GM for 30 years. The question you're posing is the very same as the rest of the market.