Foxy Emma Jane wrote:
> So I put 600,000 yen in a Japanese Bank's "saving" account.
> 
> 1. After 4 months how much interest had I earned?
> 2. Where should I have put the money?

If you were concerned 4 months ago about the slow pace of economic
recovery in Japan and increasing budget deficits and decreasing trades
surpluses, a good short-termish macro bet would have been putting the
money in a foreign currency account, e.g. with Citibank.  Technical
indicators and AUD/JPY interest rate differentials could have pointed
you towards, say, an Australian Dollar term account at about 3% p.a.

At the current AUD/JPY exchange rates, however, I'd be reluctant to
recommend such a scheme anymore.  Too much volatility risk on the
downside, not compensated with the interest rate differential.