David Tarsi
					BIS 414 Application paper 2
					April 17, 2006
		"Revival In Japan Brings Widening of Economic Gap" (NYT, April 16, 2006) by 
Norimitsu Onishi. The discourse of this article expounds on the impending loss of the classless 
society in Japan, record high stock prices and dramatic increases in real estate values. Norimitsu 
asserts that Japan's economy is once again flourishing and corporate profits are soaring; however 
he adds that this is much to the horror of an increasing number of citizens left out of the 
prosperity. They have become overworked, underpaid, unable to maintain useful savings accounts 
and unable to provide suitable academic opportunities for their children. This is in contrast 
to the latter half of the 20th century when governmental regulations effectively assured that 
pay was good, personal savings were high and education was affordable.
	In his explanation of "instrumental freedoms" Amartya Sen introduces the idea of "social 
opportunities" which include "the arrangements that society makes for education , health care 
and so on, which influence the individual's substantive freedom to live better" (38,39). The 
effectiveness of the application of this idea is reinforced by Norimitsu's description of the
 unprecedented development that has taken place in Japan after the end of WWII resulting in a 
culture relatively free of a socio-economic caste system. In the recent past, by providing a
 good educational system and assuring that most citizens have the opportunity to make a decent 
living in good health, the government of Japan has demonstrated the validity and functionality 
of this portion of Sen's theory. Norimitsu's report that citizens in Japan are experiencing 
distress due to increasingly limited access to affordable education and reduced wages further 
reinforces the theory by presenting what happens when its stipulations are not met.