OKAYAMA -- Nationally and internationally, Japan's banking mess has received a lot of press coverage and is generally considered by politicians, media pundits and business leaders to be the nation's most urgent problem.

But for growing numbers of ordinary Japanese, it's not the insolvency of international banks but of local governments that is the biggest worry.

Osaka Prefecture, facing a 500 billion yen a year deficit for the next decade, is bankrupt. Kanagawa Prefecture recently declared a state of fiscal emergency, and Tokyo may soon have to do so as well.