Japan once shared Asia's dynamism and mission, but not anymore. Today, Japan is an island of inertia in an Asia in constant flux. Japan's political leadership is paralyzed; its corporate elite befuddled; its people agonized about the future. And yet no one in Japan is doing very much about it. The continual disarray in Japanese politics threatens to make attempts to reform the economy even more difficult. "There is an awareness that things can't stay the same," says Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University, Japan campus. "The problem is, people really don't know what is next. Japan's huge problems are just festering and Japan remains rudderless."