Japanese tradition has it that your first dream of the new year (hatsuyume) is a portent of what is in store for you in the 12 months to come. There are three hatsuyume (wouldn't you just know that the Japanese would even designate dreams) they hold to be symbolic: If on the night of Jan. 1 you dream of Mount Fuji, your year's omen is good; the second most propitious dream is of a hawk; and the third, of an eggplant.

Actually, I had quite a memorable dream -- more of a nightmare -- on the first day of this year, and I hope to god that it doesn't come true. It wasn't about anything personal. Rather, it was about the future of this country where I arrived 40 years ago this year. I would call the vision in that dream "disturbing," though it may be closer to "ominous." It was about three "signposts."

The signposts leading to the future of Japan (alluded to in a JT Editorial; Dec. 31, 2006) may point to a kind of social, if not political, fascism that is slowly on the march here. It is not the kind of brutal fascism that overwhelmed Japan roughly between 1935 and 1945. Rather, it is a cooler, leaner movement, a kind of "designer fascism" that wears a fashionable white shirt instead of a brown one, and a slick suit in lieu of a starched uniform.