With its seemingly permanent state of deflation and flat economic growth, it's easy to forget that the tiny island nation of Japan has an economic output that's almost three quarters that of China's, despite having only 9% of the population, and less than 4% of China's landmass. At nearly $6 trillion of GDP, it's the only country that can be truly said to be in the same output league as the U.S. and China. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's attempts to jumpstart the economy have been effective in 2013, and although the success of "Abenomics" will take time to ascertain, for now it has provided a fiery spark to an economy too large to ignore. Look no further than the previously moribund Japanese stock market, as measured by the Nikkei 225 Index: With just two weeks left in the trading year, it's returned a vertiginous 50% year-to-date.