While the gap between the haves and have-nots -- which is believed to have widened under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration -- has become a political issue, another economic gap deserves attention. This is the gap between the nation's business and economic centers and the countryside. Visitors to cities and towns in the countryside cannot fail to notice the shuttered shops in commercial districts.
According to a July report by the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development, a extra-departmental organization of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the per capita gross prefectural income for Tokyo was the largest (6.06 million yen) in fiscal 2003, followed by Aichi (4.64 million yen) and Shiga (4.21 million yen).
Tokyo's figure was 1.52 times the national average of 3.98 million yen and 2.16 times the 2.8 million yen -- the nation's lowest -- for Okinawa. Slightly higher than Okinawa's were the figures for Aomori and Nagasaki at 2.92 million yen, and Kochi at 2.98 million yen.