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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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In the postwar period of Japan there are clearly two very different economic periods. The first ends abruptly at the end of the 1980s; the second is still going on, with no signs of disappearance. The first was glorious; the second is full with uncertainties. During the former, Japan was seemingly showing the world its own future, including to the most advanced nations; during the latter, the country is trying to find new approaches to reinvent itself, and to put its economy again on the fast lane. I recently went through several scientific books from the late 1980s and early 1990s; Japan was considered in both the United States and in Europe as the major rising power in the world, the only one capable of overcoming the West in terms of economic growth and technological innovations. Since the mid-1990s, this perception gradually receded; now it's part of history textbooks only.

Since the early 1990s, there were several signs that the economy of Japan was bracing for new strong growth; for different reasons, this wasn't the case until now. One of the victims of this second period was the real estate market; if once the residential prices were well ahead of any other nation, today they barely keep pace with the general consumer price indexes. A new moment in Japan's economic history is the gradual elimination of the egalitarian policy of wealth redistribution. Just 10 years ago, Japan was still one of the most egalitarian nations in the world; today it's on the fast lane of catching up with the Untied States, one of the most non-egalitarian among the developed nations. This factor shouldn't be overestimated, but it's clear that a sudden elimination from the demand of significant number of people will always have some negative consequences for the market in general.

Today's international economic environment isn't especially friendly for healthy economic growth. That's why it should be premature to judge for the general situation in Japan from its current situation. Nevertheless, the bad performance since the early 1990s shows that the current problems cannot be looked upon as exceptional events. There is something deeper that prevents Japan from putting once again its economy and market on the fast lane of development.

Japan country profile:

• Area: 377,835 sq km.
• Natural hazards: some active volcanoes; about 1,500 seismic occurrences every year; tsunamis; typhoons.
• Population: 127.28 million (July 2008 est.).
• Population growth rate: -0.139% (2008 est.).
• Total fertility rate: 1.22 children born/woman (2008 est.).
• Life expectancy at birth: 82.07 years.
• GDP per capita: purchasing power parity $33,800 (2007 est.).
• GDP - real growth rate: 1.9% (2007 est.).
• Distribution of family income (Gini index): 38.1 (2002).
• Main trading partners: the United States, China, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia.
• Internet users: 87.54 million (2007).

(Source: CIA World Factbook 2008)

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Japan.