There are several indications that the Japanese economy is recovering from a serious depression. It seems that a large number of people share the opinion that structural reform is necessary to continue this recovery and put the economy on a steady and sustainable growth path.
Structural reform can be discussed under many aspects: fiscal and monetary policy, corporate governance, industrial structure, and so on. To measure progress in each of these fields, we could use (respectively) statistics on fiscal deficit (or surplus), financial markets, state of competition, industrial production and the like.
I would add "openness of the country" as another important indicator of whether structural reform is succeeding or not. This issue seems to have been little considered since the Japanese economy fell into recession. However, I believe it represents an important measure. It shows how well a country is taking advantage of the merits of globalization. "Country openness" could be measured in terms of trade and investment, and I would like to suggest internal investment as a measure of "openness."