A Japan where every person can have hope for tomorrow
sounds like a fairly modest aspiration.
But that was the hope that Shinzo Abe,
Japan's prime minister, expressed for the new Reiwa
imperial era, associated with the crowning of Emperor
Naruhito, the new Japanese monarch, on May 1.
For Mr Abe awakening a sense of optimism
in his fellow countrymen is part of a broader mission.
The Japanese prime minister knows
that his country faces serious challenges, including
an ageing and shrinking population, a heavy debt
burden, and the potential threat of a rising China.
The success or failure of efforts
to inject new dynamism into Japan
will affect the whole world.
Japan is the most powerful democracy in Asia,
and the third largest economy in the world.
So it is crucial for the global balance of power.
For Mr Abe, who's likely to step down in 2021,
issues of international resilience and domestic revival
are closely connected.
Japan needs to be economically strong and optimistic
about the future if it's to resist
succumbing to fatalism about living
in a China-dominated region.
The demographic difficulties that Japan is facing
are underlined by official projections.
A low birth rate and an ageing population
means that Japan's population has been declining since 2010.
It currently stands at a little over 126m,
but official projections suggest that it
will fall below 100m in 2053, and go as low as 88m by 2065.
In an effort to respond, the Abe government's
tried to make it easier for women
to both work and have children.
And Japan's also doing more to encourage emigration.
But even the modest measures taken so far
prove very controversial in a country that treasures
its cultural homogeneity.
Some government advisers worry that Japan may even fall prey
to the populist anti-immigration politics already visible
in the US and Europe.
A shrinking population is a drag on GDP
and a smaller economy will make Japan's debt burden even harder
to manage.
At nearly 240 per cent, the government's debt to GDP ratio
is the highest in the developed world.
Government economists worry that the rising medical bills
of the elderly will further strain government finances
in the coming years and the fear of higher taxes
or even a debt default might also deepen pessimism
about the future.
And then there's fear of China.
The Chinese army and navy are growing rapidly,
and the Japanese are painfully aware
that modern Chinese nationalism feeds on hostility
towards Japan, kept alive by memories
of the Japanese invasion of the 1930s.
No defence that China can devise, be it men or material,
can withstand this relentless advance.
Triumph is to the invader.
Mr Abe notes that Japan needs friends
and he's done his utmost to preserve
the special relationship with the US
and to build a new special relationship with India.
Mr Abe has his political roots in the nationalist wing
of Japanese politics, and he's maintained links
to groups that have alarming attitudes
to Japan's wartime role.
But the prime minister is intelligent enough
to understand that in modern Japan,
a nationalist needs to be an internationalist, building
alliances and international links that will allow Japan
to thrive even as China rises.
That challenge is likely to define the new Reiwa era.