While Japan's vernacular media has regularly reported on the Occupy Wall Street movement that has swept the United States over the past several months, coverage regarding the movement and its aims has been somewhat bland.
There have been exceptions, however. Weekly magazine Aera (Nov. 14) devoted five pages to the OWS movement, taking pains to point out that a majority of demonstrators appear to be Caucasian, with many of them unemployed white-collar workers.
Aera's article also served as a reminder to Japanese to count their blessings over the nation's universal health coverage. In the U.S. even large employers such as Wal-Mart have dropped coverage for employees who work fewer than 24 hours per week, and the premiums for private health programs are increasingly beyond the budget of many workers.