There's no such thing as a popular tax increase. Woe betide the leader who sees no other way out of a fiscal impasse.
Such is Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's unenviable plight. A kōreika shakai (高齢化社会, aging society) like Japan's must fund its swelling shakai hoshōhi (社会保障費, social welfare costs) — to say nothing of Tohoku reconstruction — somehow.
Whether a shōhizei zōzei (消費税増税, consumption tax increase) is or is not the best way to go is a question best left to experts (or maybe not, given their disagreements among themselves). The point is that Noda has made up his mind and must now convince a discouraged and suspicious nation. This is not proving easy.