The whole "winner/loser" thing is really big right now... and the gap IS widening pretty badly. One reason, I think, is that the universal employment that created the massive middle class is being shaken by the fact that at some point, Japan had to accept reality and couldn't keep up their make-work-for-everyone projects...
That's pretty crappy. Sounds like Japan is becoming more like China, which never really lost their status-climbing ways even when the went communist. Apparently the divide is just ridiculous now, and with a country that big, and filled with that many peasants (and corrupt regional Party officials living the high life) I think it's only a matter of time before some serious civil unrest comes into play.
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