Compared with U.S. cities, Japanese cities bend over backward to help foreigners. The countryside is another matter.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When a population saves a lot, the funds are invested outside the country as well as inside. If the Japanese invest in the United States, it pushes their exchange rate down and makes their manufacturing more competitive.
Basically, people in other countries don't want to have to work quite as flat-out as they do in Japan.
One of the great tragedies is that there is so much less open land available in Japan today. Many Japanese come to New Zealand because of its beauty.
So, Japan as a country has lost its vigor; it feels very much closed in for various reasons.
The aging and decreasing population is a serious problem in many developed countries today. In Japan's case, these demographic changes are taking place at a more rapid pace than any other country has ever experienced.
It makes sense for Japan to pursue a more independent role in the world, following Latin America and others in freeing itself from U.S. domination.
The Japanese people are usually very prudent, even when they are convinced change is necessary.
Japan actually is an aging population, and so as the population has aged, they have had a lot more problems with health.
The Japanese keenly learned from Western civilisation in a bid to modernize and preserve the nation.
Like the Britain of Beaverbrook and Kipling, Japan in the early twentieth century was a jingoistic nation, subduing weaker countries with the help of populist politicians and sensationalist journalism.