TOKYO -- The decline in Japan's population could undermine the country's economic recovery unless workers perform more productively, and the new economy minister is taking aim at inefficient industries and workers. Hiroko Ota, who took office in September, faces an economy that is back on track after more than a decade in a slump. Japan's big structural problems have mostly been fixed: The banks have cleaned up their bad loans, and prices have stopped falling. Japan's economy grew at an average of more than 2% a year from 2003 through 2005, and it is expected to grow another 2% or...
