Japan is the world’s most advanced major society by a number of metrics: public safety, technological and educational achievements, natural and architectural beauty, a perfectly preserved and closely associated cultural tradition. I can’t do it justice — truly, I can’t speak highly enough of Japan.

What do you suggest Japan does to “reverse course” if not sacrifice the very things which create its remarkable culture?

Perhaps it’s the rest of the world’s cancerous, unsustainable focus on growth which is the problem here, not countries like Japan which don’t overvalue economic might at the cost of social cohesion.