In these dark hours, Japan would do well to heed former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's memorable maxim that you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.
As the nation struggles to avert a nuclear catastrophe on the heels of a deadly earthquake and tsunami, it takes a huge leap of faith to foresee any positives emerging from the triple disaster for a stagnant, rapidly aging and heavily indebted economy.
Yet a number of experts say the disaster might -- just might -- shake Japan out of its collective economic and political torpor of the past two decades and provide a new sense of purpose for a nation that has seemingly lost its way.
They also say that widespread fear of a Japanese fiscal death spiral is mostly overblown.
Masaru Hamasaki, a senior strategist at Toyota Asset Management in Tokyo, said the severity of the challenge facing Japan should not be underestimated.
The numbers killed in last Friday's quake centered on Sendai in northeastern Japan will far exceed the 6,400 toll from the 1995 temblor in Kobe.
