Japan's economy for 2003 poses inevitable questions. Will deflation get worse or better? How far will banks go to shed their dud loans? If the United States goes to war with Iraq, how will it affect the economy? In these increasingly uncertain times, forecasting is a tricky business. Offering stock answers won't help much.
So let us take a broad look and consider where Japan stands in the global economy. By doing so we can perhaps figure out where the nation should go from here. In difficult times such as these, it is useful to set aside immediate issues, for once, and ponder long-term questions.
One such question concerns the plight of local communities, which continue to languish in the shadow of large cities. The long-term need is to revive the countryside as a way of rejuvenating the national economy, not the other way around.