Japan worker offers skilled labor, has hot springs plans; Employment at Nissan puts him solidly in the middle class in pay

KAMINOKAWA-MACHI, Japan -- Masakazu Kana-zawa takes pride in hiswork as a 31-year veteran at a Nissan plant, fighting seconds toever so perfectly and delicately put in axle parts.

Japan is much like other industrialized nations in viewing anoffice job requiring a college degree as more desirable than blue-collar assembly line work.

But employment at Nissan Motor Co., Japan's No. 3 automaker, isputting Kanazawa and other workers like him solidly in the middleclass in pay, and winning them respect as craftsmen at a time whenthe population is shrinking from a stagnant birth rate.

Although Kanazawa isn't the bragging type, he isn't shy aboutacknowledging the …