In Japan, the Provinces Are Withering Away

摘要

On the block where Mika Nasu's clothing shop sits along the main street of Atami, a resort town 65 miles south of Tokyo, 13 of 19 stores are shuttered. "Recovery? What recovery?" asks Nasu, 50. "It just gets worse and worse."rnNasu's struggles are reflected in the Bank of Japan's Sakura Report, a regional survey akin to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book. In the July 8 report, companies from seven of Japan's nine regions expect business to worsen in the next three months. Kanto, the region that includes metropolitan Tokyo, is the only one where business anticipates any improvement.