Communism is suddenly back in fashion in Japan. The reason is not hard to find. 'Lifetime employment' is a thing of the past for young workers, whoface a casualised and insecure future. They have already worked out that, as recession bites, they will be first in the firing line. They are drawing political conclusions in increasing numbers.
Japan is
the second biggest industrial economy in the world. In the 1980s it
experienced
a huge speculative bubble, just like the housing bubble that has burst
in the USA and is on the point of bursting in Britain now.
When the bubble burst, the Japanese people, who up till then were
regarded as
living in a ‘miracle economy,’ experienced a decade of recession - a
‘lost
decade’.
The long
post-war economic boom in Japan explained the relative political stability of
the country. But since the 1980s things have changed. Now we are seeing its
economic decline emerge as political instability, with the masses looking for
an alternative to the status quo. The latest developments confirm this.