Japan ailing? Japan suffering? Nonsense. "Japan is the richest country in the world," proclaims Sapio magazine. And the best. And the happiest. The brightest future looms.
It's an interesting identity crisis Japan is going through. Is it a rich country or a poor country? Fortunate, or unfortunate? Rising, or sinking? A positive example to the world, or a cautionary tale? Some see it one way, some another. Both sides cite the same data, differently interpreted. Point of view is all.
Poverty is relative, of course, and few Japanese apply the word in all its literal starkness to their own country. Still, the majority view seems to tend toward pessimism. Japan is aging, dwindling, economically languishing, its society increasingly riven by the rising wealth of the few as against the sinking resources of the many. A sad, lonely country is Japan, say pessimists. Economic constraints and the attrition of off-screen social skills have crimped marriage to the point where some 20 percent of people aged 18-34 see themselves as "lifetime singles." A global United Nations survey of happiness ranks Japan a sad 53rd.
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