THE DIVINE WIND BLOWS

Long downturn has worn on Japanese (KOJI SASAHARA, May 25, 2003, AP)

People are afraid to spend, too worried about life after retirement--or worse still, life after ''risutora,'' the Japanese for ''restructuring'' and the euphemism here for layoffs. [...]

Japan's unemployment rate is now at a near-record 5.4 percent. Joblessness among the young is peaking at its highest levels in half a century.

The main index for the Tokyo stock market has slid lately to 20-year lows. Some smaller companies are collapsing as banks tighten lending, weighed down by massive bad debts. [...]

''There is a danger that the so-called lost decade of the 1990s could continue for another decade,'' said Masaaki Mizuno, strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in Tokyo.

Another decade? Why will it only last another decade? By the end of the 00s Japan will be in the grip of depopulation. If folks are worried about their retirement now, just wait until they have a society that's devoid of young people to pay for those retirements. Japan is the West's canary in a coalmine, and it's dying. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 25, 2003 6:44 AM