Tokyo is booming as has been the case for the past ten years, Tokyo is pulling the rest of the country along with it. New buildings are going up everywhere, there are waiting lines at restaurants and advertising slots on trains and subways are nearly all full.
Tokyo from a satellite is a fairly flat plain, the size of Switzerland. While the Swiss number 7.3 million, the same space on the Kanto Plain is filled with 48 million people. If Tokyo alone were a nation it would be the second richest and the 23rd largest. More people than Spain, Argentina, Australia, Poland or Scandinavia. It would be larger in population than 165 members of the U.N. and the WTO and still have only one vote in each body.
The biggest changes in the past year have all been in the same direction. Nearly all colored hair has disappeared, it is now only black. The music in cafes, on the street and in department stores is upbeat. The startling/imaginative dress of the young teenagers has nearly vanished.
In one year Tokyoites have become conservative, more prosperous and happier; the young rebel girls are missing.
Japan will soon have nuclear weapons, a weapon defense system and be on their own in the global political scene. Is that the reason for the drastic change?