Founded in 2003, ReproCell was the first company licensed to generate induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, according to the company website. Kyoto University professor Shinya Yamanaka won a Nobel Prize for medicine in October after discovering a new way to transform ordinary skin cells into iPS cells. Riken, a state scientific research institute, said the cells have potential for treating cancer.

Their business model is easy to monetize, said Gentoku NP Paribas Investment Partners, which oversees the equivalent f $647 billion. Investors optimistic about the medical industry as part of the country's growth strategy will continue to carefully choose which companies to invest in based on whether the company can profit on that or not.

Eoin Treacy's view Japan's deflationary environment has persisted for so long because of a confluence of factors but among the most important has been that governance deteriorated right across the political, economic and corporate segments of society. This is not unusual since it has been our long held belief at Fullermoney that the performance of governance is cyclical. The greatest enemy of any success story, such as Japan's in the post World War II era, is hubris.

To have good governance is simply not enough, because if governance is not improving it is sliding. The mistaken belief that alright is good enough and the opinion that past glories will sustain an organisation in future have resulted in more than a few countries, corporations and organisations deteriorating to the point of dissolution. It is for this reason that the revolution in governance currently underway in Japan is so important and holds such potential.

Japan has the highest debt to GDP ratio of any OECD country. That debt has been manageable because of ultra low interest rates, the deflationary environment, a current account surplus and the fact that most of that debt is held internally. However, the record strength of the Yen that prevailed until late last year represented a threat to the health of the economy and was having a serious negative effect on the earnings potential of the country's world class export sector.

Japan has devalued the Yen by approximately 30% in the last nine months and this has reignited investor interest in the country's stock markets. However a weak currency will not be sufficient to break the deflationary cycle. Continued commitment to reforming the economy's structural issues and the removal of obstacles to growth will be key to achieving its ambitions.

The stakes are incredibly high because if Japan fails to return to a sustainable growth footing, the potential for government debt servicing to become an insurmountable hurdle will become non trivial.

The oversubscription to ReproCell's IPO is a positive indication that the entrepreneurial spirit that spurred Japan to such heights previously is still alive and well. It could thrive with the correct regulatory environment and the backing of a vibrant venture capital support network.