What kind of country will Japan be in the 21st century? The millennial forecast is in and it looks like this: Japan's cultural elite is quickly converging around the notion that Japan should be the first boutique state of the 21st century -- distinctive, well designed and expensive.
Futurist Kimindo Kusaka maintains that Japan is already well on the way to becoming a global prototype for the 21st century -- a culture-driven, hedonistic, consumer paradise, with cellular telephones and Pokemon toys in every pocket and amusement parks around every corner. Why would anyone not aspire to be like the ever mobile Japanese, always on the move dialing, eating, playing and shopping?
How do they to do it? Just ask the young ladies cruising the posh Gucci shop in the fashionable Aoyama Diamond Hall. "We live at home, the company pays our commuting costs, and since we make under $35,000 a year we don't pay any taxes. It's great!"