ABSTRACT
Individual workers and firms won't change their behavior unless they know that other firms and workers will act in the same way. Corporate reform that gives firms more freedoms needs to be balanced by a big increase in antitrust enforcement and shareholder power. Yet unless the moribund firms are forced out, such deregulation only leads to excess capacity, making life tougher for everyone. However, the government is reluctant to see too many firms fail, lest it bring down the banking system. The notion that reform is indispensable has already captured the imagination of many Japanese, among both the elite and the “man on the street.” Even the failure of Koizumi to fulfill popular expectations is part of the process of reform. In the battle between reform and resistance, Japan is now in just the second round of a fifteen-round match.
