The mood inside this hotel auditorium, though, is anything but celebratory. Tweaking the obligatory pep talk, company president Toshifumi Suzuki warns the recruits, who hang intently on his every word, that security and stability, long the bywords in corporate Japan, are no more. Now, the emphasis is on survival. Japan's economy is in an unprecedented condition. The gloom extends far beyond Ito-Yokado's supermarket shelves.
Japan is in a state of despair.
The debate today is about the nation's ability to survive the 21st century as a major regional and global influence. A book recently published by international corporate strategist Michael Porter, with the aid of two Japanese experts, highlights the new mindset. Japan's gloom has been made worse by the renewed global focus on its own shortcomings. The country's policymakers have written themselves into the record books in their desperate attempts to turn around the economy. But for all this, Japan is about to slide back into recession.