Historically known as one of the most closed off economies in the world, Japan has always had an interesting relationship with foreign investors. Japan first began to warm up to foreign investment in the 1990s as the island nation was in the midst of a decade long period of stagnation. Foreign investors jumped, perhaps too aggressively, at the opportunity to park their capital into what was then the world’s second-largest economy. Foreign ownership of Japanese company stock skyrocketed from 4% in 1988 to 28% in 2006.