...Winners and losers have never before been so clearly identifiable in the various sectors of industry.
All such divides were never this visible in Japanese society. After all, was it not supposed to be the most equal society in the world? Going around bookshops in Japan today, one notices a very startling thing. It is that books on issues of social disparity and inequality <http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/FL04Dh01.html> are selling remarkably well across the country. Enter any bookshop anywhere and you find books dealing with these subjects stacked high in the bestseller section. Even very scholarly tomes that would normally be hidden on the back shelves are on display complete with catchy words of recommendation.
Japanese people are suddenly wanting to find out who the rich people are, why the poor are poor, how poor they are, and what hope if any is left for the down-and-outs. A growing sense of unfairness is pervading this society in the aftermath of more than a decade of economic deflation....
http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-institutions_government/koizumi_2821.jsp#