Nissan is Japan’s third-largest automaker, after Toyota and Honda. The net loss of jobs (20,000 out of 235,000) is almost 10% of Nissan’s workforce. Additionally, Nissan announced its intention to move production of its cars from Japan to the United States and seek “government assistance” from both Japan and the US.

Megan McArdle writes that Nissan’s move is highly unorthodox for a company springing out of Japan’s “highly nationalistic” culture.