The reform movement in recent Japan -- the drive to deregulate, to establish shareholder sovereignty, to make a nation of butt-busting competitors -has multiple origins: neo-liberal individualism, undiluted faith in the marketism of neo-classical economics, plus the belief that it is the recipe to get Japan back on the road to being Number One.
It is also a reflection of the interests of the churyu-nisei, the first generation born into the urban middle class.
The potential defenders of the employee-sovereignty firm are silent, but may prove stubborn.
Only when the economy returns to growth will one begin to see more clearly how far the reformers will actually succeed