It's good to see the Giant Robot guys still doing well. I met them when they were still struggling in the late 90s when I was working for Toyota in LA.

In 1984, when Sixteen Candles came out, some Asian-American groups decried Long Duk Dong as stereotypical, racist and part of a long history of Hollywood's offensive depictions of Asian men.

"It took me a while to understand that," Watanabe says. "In fact, I was working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I was accosted a couple of times by a couple of women who were just really irate and angry. They asked, 'How could you do a role like that?' But it's funny, too, because at the same time I laugh at the character. It's an odd animal."
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The situation for Asian-American men in Hollywood has improved a bit since 1984. There are more Asian Americans behind the camera, and more substantial roles, especially on TV. As far as film actors go, many people mention John Cho. He is best known for playing Harold in the comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and in an upcoming sequel.

But Asian-American actors are still trying to overcome several big issues. They want more roles that are simply American, not ethnic.

And, says Watanabe: "We really need an Asian-American star, and it hasn't happened." Hollywood may be importing leading men from Asia, one oft-heard argument says, but it has a ways to go with Asian Americans.

To quickly summarize my views, I see two obstacles to growth, one on the supply side and one on the demand side.

1) Supply side obstacles. Growth is the sum of how many additional people are working plus how much more each person can produce. With the working age population falling and more people working only part-time, the sole source of GDP growth has been productivity growth. Reforms that exposes firms to fiercer Darwinian competition will bring Japan's myriad backward sectors up to world benchmarks, and improve overall potential growth. This can certainly be combined with social safety net features and other measures so that, while some current firms and jobs will disappear, individuals are protected, true security is enhanced and income equality is restored.

2) Demand side obstacles. In my view, anemic consumption is not the result of culture, but of lack of money. Real wages per worker have fallen 2.7% since 2002 and so people have lowered their savings rate drastically to maintain consumption. This problem is simply the exacerbation of a longterm structural problem stemming as far back as the mid-1970s. The household share of disposable income--e.g. wages, interest, dividends, rent, income of self-employed--has been too low a share of national income relative to support consumer-led growth. Give them money and they will spend.