One of the bedrock beliefs that Japanese society has about itself is that everyone belongs to the middle class. This isn't to say pronounced social classes don't exist. A middle-aged woman once expressed to me her fear that her adult daughter would never get married and move out. Since the daughter worked as a nurse in a large hospital, I said that maybe she'd meet a nice young doctor. The woman looked at me as if I were crazy. In Japan, doctors never marry nurses.

For the most part, the Japanese have been fairly successful at keeping such class distinctions out of sight. Every young woman owns a Prada bag. Every family sends their children to cram schools. Everybody eats top-of-the-line koshihikari rice.

Even on TV, a realm ruled by the de facto aristocracy of the information age -- show-biz personalities -- the hoi polloi have become the center of attention. There are now something like two dozen series on Japanese TV where celebrities sit around and watch average people. It used to be the other way around.