What joys and sorrows will the coming year bring for Japan? Fast forward to Jan. 1, 2003, apply tongue firmly to cheek and enjoy the benefit of hindsight by reading the alternative futures contained in the 2002 diaries of long-suffering Tokyo banker Gamansuruzo Nostrodoomus, and go-getting Kansai career woman, Genkidesse Nostroboomus.
GAMANSURUZO NOSTRODOOMUS: Ouch! I've got a headache the size of Mount Fuji after spending all December trying to drown the considerable sorrows of the previous 11 months. What a nightmare 2002 was for me and Japan. May we never see its like again.
January: I'm in the Guinness Book of Records! My car is one of 20 million in the world's longest traffic jam, all the way from Kagoshima to Sapporo during the o-shogatsu U-turn rush. My mother would be so proud, I think, as I stare at the rear end of a concrete mixer during a 12-hour stationary spell on the Tomei Expressway. This Zen lesson in patience shows that all Japan has to do is wait, and we will return to a self-sustaining path of recovery.