J-Styles Disparity

Departments of police, the judges, the feds
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
You know they went after King
When he spoke out on Vietnam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot
--RATM

A new class war front emerges....

Revival in Japan Brings Widening of Economic Gap

By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: April 16, 2006

OSAKA, Japan — Japan's economy, after more than a decade of fitful starts, is once again growing smartly. Instead of rejoicing, however, Japan is engaged in a nationwide bout of hand-wringing over increasing signs that the new economy is destroying one of the nation's most cherished accomplishments: egalitarianism.

A four-hour television series and interactive web site by The Times, The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the ZDF network of Germany.
nytimes.com/chinarises »

Today, in a country whose view of itself was once captured in the slogan, "100 million, all-middle class society," catchphrases harshly sort people into "winners" and "losers," and describe Japan as a "society of widening disparities." Major daily newspapers are running series on the growing gap between rich and poor, with such titles as "Divided Japan" and "Light and Darkness."

I can't describe the social cohesion in Japan...the media and the people there describe themselves as a classless society...95% consider themselves "middle class" as opposed to 30% in North America....similarly, 30% of N. Americans say they are "Upper class". That's crazy. Anyways, it would be an unfortunate trend in Japan if the rich did decide to star gating themselves away in communities/dissassociating themselves from public life, and social harmony (still a big deal in Japan) was ruined.