The Japan Time's interview of 10 prominent people in Japan regarding what Japan should do in 2013 to begin to set things straight was very interesting. The government has recently enlisted the help of the Bank of Japan to set an inflation target of 2% this year. the Yen has risen from about 77 to 90 yen in the past few months which is almost 15% so I imagine it will be easy to achieve 2% inflation if not 5% or more given that Japan imports all its energy and a lot of food and raw material. The consumption tax is set to go up in 2014 to 8% and to 10% soon after that so as Noriko Hama says, wages, somehow, must be raised to compensate for 10-15% inflation including the tax. Aye, there lies the rub! Why will wages go up??????