The Salaryman

For the past decade, Shojiro Suzuki has watched his wealth slowly slip away. The 861-sq.-ft. house in Tokyo that he bought 13 years ago for 60 million yen ($492,000)? It's worth half that now. The stock portfolio worth 16 million yen ($131,000) back in the late 1980s? A paltry 3 million yen ($25,000) now. His salary of 8.5 million yen ($70,000)? The same for 10 years. To make matters worse, last week the stock ticker in his office's front window taunted him every time he walked by. On his way out Monday, it was at 12,171, its lowest point since the...

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