Kiyoshi Shigematsu is a Japanese novelist, who was born in the former half of 1960's who is in the same generation as me.

He once said, about 6 or 7 years ago, "we are not the generation who can point out and tell what is essential." The days when he started his carrer as a novelist was the latter half of 1980's, what was called "Japanese bubble of land and stock." Those days, the people who made lots of money, were those farmers who could sell their land high, which was mainly given by GHQ after WW2, and their family did not have any land to caltivate for their livinghood and provide their cultivating-work-power for those who had land, in pre-war days. I do not call them "beggars" but most of Japanese farmers who got their land after-war, has not cultivated their land even though they have their own land, given by GHQ after Japan losing the war. Their excuse was "Japanese government tells us not to product 'rice' any more because 'rice' in Japan is enough and the people don't buy 'rice' more." Normally, if rice cannot sell well, farmers should product other things, but in Japan after WW2, the government has been buying "rice" for the same price. And, for about 50 years, Japanese farmers could not sell the Japanese people directly, they had to sell their "rice" only to Japanese government.

The point is "safety" of their, farmer's, financial aspects. Or exactly speaking, their hope to financial "safety" is the point. Very often said, those days, in 1980's, "Japan is a succeeded socialism nation."

But the posession of a person's land is admitted and permitted in this "socialism nation" and, some or not quite a few farmers and others who posessed land, sold high in the latter half of 1980's. They got rich suddenly. Of course, they had suddenly found that the nation they lived was/is that of capitalism.

Today, in 2007, many Japanese hope their financial "safety", I think that they wish most strongly for these half a century after WW2 especially beause they found IT-rich young Japanese in the 21st century.  

This matter would be continued.