Facing a multiplicity of financial, structural and demographic woes and battered by the decline in Japan's electronics industry the world's second largest economy is praying the dawning of the digital era will help it out of a prodigious hole. Happy to sell the latest gizmo to high school girls Japan Inc., it seems, is less keen on utilizing that same technology prowess in business.

Seeing this as a strain on its international competitiveness, the Japanese government is determined to bring stuffy business practices kicking and screaming into a more dynamic, creative and tech-savvy world.

Japan just might have the PM to prove it. When the country's ruling Liberal Democratic Party recently appointed a self-confessed geek, the 68-year-old Taro Aso, as its leader, the move was hailed as the Second Coming by Japan's multitude of anoraks and manga-besotted otaku.

His victory was the icing on the cake for some in government whom had long battled for a shift to a digital-based economy and the end to the dynasty of the country's generally IT-illiterate bosses.