[The Duke]

It was loss of an industrial base that destroyed Japan's
economy, and which is presently destroying ours.

[Question_Assumptions]

Nihon-no-bumpu.

[fso301]

Bump for later read

[Question_Assumptions]

When describing why Japan can't get out of its recession, I've always simply said that there are two ways to remove a Band-Aid -- quickly or slowly. The Japanese are trying the slow approach.

[altair]

The official unemployment rate is also biased downward because the Japanese government offers "employment adjustment subsidies" to companies that maintain employees as "window sitters" (Herbener 1999).

Bwahahaha. That's great work if you're into that sort of thing. I sat across from a window sitter at my first job here. He would come into work, carefully select a journal, take off his shoes and fall asleep with the journal in his lap and his feet on his desk. After lunch, ditto and before the evening gong had finished, he would be out the door brief case in hand. I don't know what they were paying him to do, but in the year I was there I never saw him do any work.