Of economic strengths and weaknesses

Nothing scares the United States, European and Chinese economic policymakers more than "Japanization".

The prospect of unending malaise, deflation and waning global relevance has officials pulling out all the stops to avoid the "lost decade" scenario. At the same time, no modern nation would fascinate Charles Darwin more than Japan. It's the economy that time forgot. It may be sitting amid a sea of epochal change, but its political system behaves as if the world has been sitting still for decades.

Japan is the market equivalent of the endemic species Darwin found on the remote islands off Ecuador's coast. Its products and business customs are highly distinct from anything found elsewhere, but not particularly suited to thriving beyond the water's edge. Even as deflation deepens, Japan refuses to turn away from the fossilized policies that are walling it off from an Asian region racing forward. Its companies have a sepia-toned view of a rapidly evolving world, refusing to think bigger and more internationally.