With its economy spluttering, large parts of its northeastern region still devastated by the effects of the mammoth Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 — and releases of radioactive materials that followed — its population shrinking and aging at unprecedented rates and its citizens despairing of dysfunctional politics, Japan's entry into a new Year of the Snake appears unlikely to yield much of the steady progress that these years traditionally herald.
Indeed, the country's myriad problems — including fundamental divisions over such crucial issues as energy, defense and trade policies — can appear so deep-seated as to make it difficult to know even how to begin to set things right.
In an effort to cast some light into this darkness, The Japan Times has enlisted a range of especially talented individuals to respond to a simple question: What are the three most important things that Japan must do in 2013?