Starbucks has done well in Japan, although the road hasn’t always been smooth. After cutting the ribbon on its fi rst Japan store in 1996, the company began opening stores at a furious pace. New shops attracted large crowds, but the effect wore off as the market became saturated. The company returned to profit ability, and net profits jumped more than sixfold to 3.6 billion yen in 2007, but declined again to 2.7 billion yen in 2009.