The author is stupid.<p>&quot;How about free-market policies? Here the story is more ambiguous, but I still see this as a minor factor at most.&quot;<p>Because of such neoliberal policies, 40% of the work force is now on irregular lowest wage jobs with no job security whatsoever, no medical coverage&#x2F;pension at all.<p>Neoliberal policies of the last 2 decades are destroying what boosted Japan prosperity and stability.<p>The author lives in a dream world where Japan has always been a country with low criminality, obedient citizen etc. But that is only the product of the after-war and the massive US investments to make Japan the first barrier against Asian communism. Now that the socialist block is dead, neo-liberals can destroy at will all the social policies that were created since the 40&#x27;s.