Maybe it was Benjamin Disraeli or maybe it was Mark Twain or maybe it was me who said, "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics . . . followed by Japanese financial data."
For who can make numerical sense out of the last 15 years of Japanese money woes? Bad news haunts economic reports even now, with the loud pop of the bubble only a messy and distant echo. Mention the economy and staid businessmen will wring their hands, politicians will scrunch their brows and TV anchormen will breathe deep, before breaking for commercials.
The threat of cutbacks jars Japanese harmony like fingernails on a blackboard. Yet -- everywhere I look -- most people still seem to have jobs.