However, Mr Kono stood down in favour of Mr Murayama, the leader then of the Social Democrats, to ensure the coalition's stability.

ECONOMIST: The ungrateful Japanese

Lifetime employment once made sense, says Mr Murayama, because the company's strength lay in production engineering, and the ability to innovate through small engineering improvements requires a good deal of experience.

ECONOMIST: Putting the bounce back into Matsushita | The

"I meant to work here until my retirement, " says Masahiro Yoshino, 48, riding a bus from the Nissan plant that makes hatchbacks in the Tokyo suburb of Murayama, one of the factories Nissan plans to shutter.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Japan: No More Jobs for Life