Second are simmering territorial disputes with China, Taiwan and South Korea over tiny islets in the East China Sea, and the fisheries and oil-and-gas fields around them.Third is plain envy of Japan's efficiency, wealth and power, mixed with resentment at the arrogance they are sometimes seen as fostering.
These pundits seem to think the values of wisdom, tradition and collective spirituality should be discarded in favor of another set of values: efficiency, wealth and power.
He interpreted efficiency as "wealth maximization" but then interpreted wealth maximization as "willingness to pay".
It is as if history itself has been compressed in the rush to enhance efficiency and wealth.
The language of the socioeconomic landscape has been commanded by words like efficiency, productivity, wealth generation, aspiration, entrepreneur, pro-business and incentives.
Whereas the burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming, and nuclear plants generate life-threatening waste, the only by-product of energy efficiency is wealth, in the form of lower fuel bills and less spending on power stations, pipelines and so forth.
Technology does not cause income disparity, but enables increased efficiency and wealth creation.
"Large organisations have enabled much of the efficiency gains and wealth creation in the world, and we are looking to take the best business practices, and apply them to our mission: to help everyone live this one life as fully as possible".
Since 1904, working conditions, at least in the West, have markedly improved, while market efficiencies have produced wealth and comfort on an unprecedented scale.
But greater efficiency leads to greater wealth, and vice versa, as Zimbabwe so harrowingly shows.
And these bubbles were in turn driven by a view of the world born of complacency about crises, driven by views about the real source of economic wealth, the efficiency of markets and the importance of speculation in our lives.
