TOKYO -- Many Japanese companies have been shying away from investing in domestic plants and equipment as they fret about potential overcapacity locally and turn overseas for expansion, keeping the country's capital spending in the doldrums and dragging on growth in the world's No. 3 economy.
The nation's productive capital stock -- or total value of all production facilities and equipment held by private companies assessed by using an age-efficiency profile and retirement pattern -- has increased less than 10% over the past two decades, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, way behind a rise of 50% in the U.S. and 60% in the U.K.
