Fools were out and about this week in an investing world jam-packed with actions and ideas. Here are three articles you might find useful as you decide how to invest your money.

Why You Need to Stay Away From Japan

The actions you don't take can be as important to investing success as the actions you do take. Fool contributor Ivan Martchev gave readers a heads-up this week on why it doesn't make sense to put money into Japan.

"We now have two lost decades in Japan, and the fundamental picture has noticeably worsened in the past 20 years … Japan could well be the place where the first sovereign debt crisis in a major industrialized country happens," Ivan wrote. Despite his confidence in Japanese multinational companies Toyota (NYSE: TM), Nissan (Nasdaq: NSANY), Honda (NYSE: HMC), and Hitachi (NYSE: HIT), Ivan lists five reasons to be wary of the overall Japanese economy, including unrelenting deflation and a decreasing population.

Click to the article to see Ivan's other reasons for warning investors away from Japan.

Take This Mortgage and Shove It!

Help Wanted: Government and mortgage industry seek talented individuals to join team working to keep people in their homes. Mothers of toddlers and teenagers get hiring priority, as necessary skills include compassion, budgeting expertise, mediation skills, and the ability to withstand anger and dramatic door-slamming.

Fool contributor Matt Koppenheffer introduced readers to new research done by University of Arizona law professor Brent White on the emotions that drive people to walk away from mortgages they could afford. Anger plays a part. "White suggests that by recognizing the key role that emotions play in the strategic default process, both banks and the government can revise their policies to better stem the tide by better addressing the emotional component," Matt wrote.

Click to the article to see whom the strategic defaulters are and to review White's suggested "rent-based loan program." Then give your thoughts in the comments section.

Weekly Walk of Shame: BP's Beyond Belief

What's worse than being invested in a company struggling to deal with a worst-case scenario? How about putting your money in the hands of managers who haven't planned for how to handle a worst-case scenario?

BP (NYSE: BP) and its "blundering, ineffectual response" to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster took the Foolish Walk of Shame this week, escorted by Fool Alyce Lomax.

"Have corporate managers forgotten that truly good businesses need contingency plans for worst-case scenarios? Are they too busy patting one another on the back to ponder how things might go wrong?" Alyce wrote. 

Click to the article and join the conversation in the comments section on the economic, environmental, regulatory, and personal aspects of this situation.