.S.&P. Downgrades Japan as Debt Concerns Spread

.S.&P. Downgrades Japan as Debt Concerns Spread

　TOKYO — Standard & Poor’s, the credit ratings agency, downgraded Japan’s long-term sovereign debt on Thursday, a sharp reminder of the heavy burden plaguing the world’s third-largest economy at levels that stand out even in an increasingly debt-ridden world.

（中略）

Despite the staggering size of Japan’s debt-to-G.D.P. ratio, most of Japan’s debt is held domestically, unlike that of Greece or the United States. And Japan runs a current-account surplus in trade, putting it on a more stable financial footing.

Japan’s borrowing costs remain among the lowest in the industrialized world. The yield on a benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond hovered around 1.25 percent late afternoon in Tokyo.