Gradually, though, as this country has continued its drift, a more skeptical view has begun to gain ground: Japan is returning to its rightful place in the world, that of a middling country of vastly diminished and still declining importance in world affairs.
"I see only two things Japan can do, and they are inseparable: opening up the country and its institutions," said Jean-Pierre Lehmann, a longtime Japan specialist at I.M.D., a graduate management school in Lausanne, Switzerland. "But I don't see this happening, because Japan just doesn't want foreigners. Meanwhile, you can't rebel in Japan, so the most talented young people are leaving the country or are simply resigned."
