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"This is really an enormous task," Ozawa says. "This is more than reform. What we need is close to a revolution. What's demanded is a change of Japanese consciousness, and whether or not we succeed is up to the people." But what would bring about revolution? It is the Japanese way to face adversity with a simple appeal to gaman, which translates more or less as "hang tough and don't complain." Perhaps anguish over Japan's decay will push people beyond gaman and put wind at the back of radicals like Ozawa and other reformers. Failing that, Japan could turn into a graying has-been of the industrial world.
--Reported by Irene M. Kunii, Satsuki Oba and Hiroko Tashiro/ Tokyo