Chief executive Kazuo Inamori, the founder of hi-tech giant Kyocera, was brought in by the government to turn around the ailing airline, long a symbol of Japan's economic success.

BBC: JAL profits boosted by cost cuts

The fate of the Long-Term Credit Bank, Japan's 10th-largest bank, has become a symbol of what's at stake.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

Increasingly, fighting became a symbol of struggles with personal demons -- a sign of individualism maturing in post-war Japan, says Natume.

CNN: The War Mangas