Reform? Nah, turn back the clock.

[Taro Toporific]

Japan LDP bastion can't turn back clock on change
MSNBC
MITO, Japan, Sept. 12 ---Inhabitants of the conservative ruling party bastion of Ibaraki in central Japan confess they're uncomfortable with change. They face lots of it.
...As elsewhere in Japan, manufacturing jobs are moving to China, mom-and-pop shops are losing out to superstores, builders are being squeezed by shrinking public ... ''A lot of people feel that further reform is needed to improve Japan's future,'' said Matsuo Otaka, director general of the LDP's Ibaraki Prefectural chapter.
''But quite a few others who work in certain sectors are more concerned about making their present jobs secure than about Japan's future,'' he said. ''That's the choice they have to make.''