For its annual World Wealth Report, finance firm Merrill Lynch circles the globe and counts the number of millionaires. Though a million dollars -- 114 million yen, as defined by the survey -- ain't what it used to be, it's still a distant dream for the vast majority.
According to the report, about 16 percent of the world's millionaires live in Japan, which has always thought of itself as a uniformly middle class society. In the past several years, however, the Japanese media has closely scrutinized the expanding chasm between the country's rich and poor. This chasm has always existed to some extent, but the rich have traditionally kept a low profile here.
For that reason, ML's statistics showing that Japan has more per capita millionaires than the United States may surprise people. America might not be the birthplace of conspicuous consumption, but its citizens have definitely raised it to an art form. What would a parvenu gangsta rapper be without his Cristal champagne and Lexus? What would Donald Trump be without his history of trophy wives?