TOKYO -- A 35-year-old man working in Marunouchi, one of Tokyo's major business districts, looked up from his desk on Aug. 5 to see television screens flashing the news that Japanese stocks were plummeting. That day, the bellwether Nikkei Stock Average suffered its largest single-day decline in its history after recording its second-worst fall during the previous trading session.
"I was really, really surprised," said the man, who asked to go by the nickname R.I. "I'm a long-term investor so I'm not swayed, but [when I saw] my assets were melting away, I was upset."
