Japan and the ancient art of shrugging - New York Times op-ed

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/opinion/22kato.html

>Freshly overtaken by China, Japan now seems to stand at the vanguard of a new downsizing movement, leading the way for countries bound sooner or later to follow in its wake. In a world whose limits are increasingly apparent, Japan and its youths, old beyond their years, may well reveal what it is like to outgrow growth.

Norihiro Kato is a professor of Japanese literature at Waseda University. This article was translated by Michael Emmerich from the Japanese.

Since I teach Japan's new generation in my freshmen and sophomore academic English classes, this issue of Japan's future identity is something that will come up as a running theme in our discussions. Kato makes a good point that Japan, or at least the young people of Japan, can and should develop a comfortable, confident sense of self that does not excessively worry about GDP rankings. Just be yourselves!