Not sure how currency affects the investment though....something like 50% devaluation of the Yen over the last year or two. 

Nobody knows where currencies are headed (against) the USD.

However, I do plan to do so in order to diversify across political climates and currencies.

I would assume that interest rates are much higher due to higher inflation rates and the currency being less stable. 

I got 15% note rate and then another big move with the currency arbitrage.. although for me lending in BC I did not research it far enough it ended up well as stated.. but once I dug into what happens if they don't pay.. that's when I got a little bit of an ut oh not the US and much tougher.. it was a small number like 100k.. so not the end of the world but still.