My pet theory is that once the more traditional elements of Japan's corporate and political world retire/pass away, Japan's younger generation could make some interesting changes to Japanese society. A few young CEOs are already implementing changes in the corporate world. Last Friday at the hostel in Santa Monica, I met a young woman from Japan who told me that she preferred working for a Merrill-Lynch branch office in Japan because the company requires no "unpaid overtime" and the atmosphere of the company is more relaxed than the atmosphere of a Japanese company. An indicator of things to come perhaps?

I hope you're right, but sometimes I think the only hope for Japan in the long term is either a religious revival (the argument in that religion book that the Japanese tend to respond to social crises through inventing new religious syntheses is stuck in my head) or a large-scale return of expats from the Americas, but I don't think either one is terribly likely.