Article: On the town in Hokkaido: the first of an occasional series on Japan's economic pains.(recession)(Brief Article)

FRIDAY night in Susukino, and the entertainment district of Sapporo seems as lively as ever. Red-faced sararimen totter from bar to bar. Neon signs blaze out from buildings advertising the night's attractions and immodestly clad young women hand out leaflets promoting some of the seedier ones. It is hard to imagine that Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's four main islands, is where the country's economic troubles have hit hardest. Yet appearances deceive, and Hokkaido is indeed a victim of Japan's strange recession.

"The problems are hidden under the table," says Masatoshi Kanazawa of the island's chamber of commerce. Every day, he says, ...

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