Cliff Waldman begins with a tale of two recoveries for the Japanese economy, both from the 2008-2009 global recession and from the March 2011 tsunami. The near-term path of the yen is also discussed. After reviewing the recent path of total factory sector output growth as well as the performance of key manufacturing industry segments, he concludes with a 2012 forecast of growth in eight industries of importance to MAPI member companies.