Recently there has been much debate in Japan over whether the "Galapagos syndrome" — development in splendid isolation from the rest of the world — fits Japan. Galapago-ists argue that Japan should embrace its falling position in the world, adjust to diminished expectations, and find contentment in tending its own garden in its own particularly Japanese way.
Globalists, on the other hand, support Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Third Opening of Japan to the world, after the first opening with Commodore Matthew Perry's arrival in the 19th century and the second, after Japan's defeat in World War II. Japan would enter into new free trade agreements, refigure Japanese agriculture and accept foreign workers.
The Japanese business world seems to be coming down on the side of the globalists, as the fall in domestic consumer demand forces them to look outward. Even as the job situation becomes desperate for recent Japanese grads, they are increasingly hiring non-Japanese grads — foreign students studying in Japan as well as those graduating from universities in their home countries.