Regarding the Dec. 5 Kyodo front-page article "50.7% want election held before tax hike": Surely as God made little green apples, self-interest will kill Japan. The markets are currently distracted with the "1+1 = 5" economics of Europe and the United States, but eventually the Japanese short-sellers will win. Savings in this country will run out, and Japan will have to suffer the ignominy of international market judgment.
As the population ages and more than 30 percent of the workforce earn only about ¥1,000 an hour, there is a growing divide between the "haves" and the "never-will-haves."
After 30 years in this wonderful country, it will be sad to see it destroyed by its own people. No one has the courage to say what needs to be said, and certainly no one has the power to do what needs to be done. Japan is going the way of the dinosaur and there's not a thing most Japanese want to do about it except admit that the next meal is a Chinese takeaway.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.