Japan's net overseas assets rose to a record high at the end of last year, due in part to a weaker yen. This made Japan the world's biggest creditor nation for the 31st year in a row.

The finance ministry says net external assets came to over 411 trillion yen at year-end, or about 3.2 trillion dollars at the current rate of exchange.
That's up from the previous year in yen terms by 15.8 percent, for the biggest jump since comparative data began to be kept in 1996.

The figure is calculated by subtracting the value of domestic assets held by foreign entities from the value of assets the Japanese government, companies and individuals own abroad.

Germany had the second-largest figure, at around 2.5 trillion dollars. Hong Kong came third, followed by China.
Canada is in the 5th position.

The United States was the biggest net overseas debt holder, at over 16 trillion dollars.