Who’s In Charge in Japan?

Japan has gone without effective leadership for so long and with an endless procession of faceless prime ministers and their cabinets, that it has made political dysfunction look almost like well-practiced art, says The Economist. “But this crisis has shone a pitiless light on that failure. Mr Kan, who has promised political change, now needs to bring it about. Japan’s people can help, adopting a different attitude to their government. Stoicism—however good for coping with adversity—is bad for bringing on change. Time for the Japanese to unleash some righteous anger on a system that has let them down.”