Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction: What Can Japan Offer the World? -- Globalizing the Galapagos -- Exploring Japan's Relevance -- Storytelling as Soft Power -- Notes -- Part One: Galapagos Incubator -- Chapter 1: A Soft Superpower: The Pivot from Manufacturing to Pop Culture -- Japan's "Cultural Greenhouse" -- What Makes Japan "Cool"? -- Jeans for 600 or 10? -- The Power of Pokémon GO -- The No-Brand Brand and the God of Tidying -- Beyond Cool Japan -- Notes -- Chapter 2: Dominating the Pritzkers: Japan's Emergence as a Leader in Design -- Architecture's Most Exciting Home -- Japanese Architecture Takes Off -- The Rise of Japanese Design -- The Designer as Artist -- No Detail Too Minor -- Design as a Profession -- Thinking in Three Dimensions -- An Uncertain Future -- Reigniting the Network -- Notes -- Chapter 3: Asia's Rediscovery of Japan: The Boom in Inbound Tourism -- Linking Japan to Asia -- Reviving Regional Economies -- Asianizing Snow Country -- The Foreigners' Gaze -- Selling Beauty to Asia -- Japan's Top Draw -- Is Japan Ready? -- Tapping Japan's Potential -- Notes -- Part Two: Outliers and Pioneers -- Chapter 4: Departing from Silicon Valley: Japan's New Startup Ecosystem -- Japan's Quiet Reform -- Japan's New Startup Ecosystem -- Entrepreneur as Hero -- Enter (Independent) Venture Capital -- Maturing Startup Ecosystem -- Bulldozers and Drones -- Robot Motorcycles -- Honda Comes to Silicon Valley -- Bridging Startups and Corporate Giants -- Notes -- Chapter 5: A Nation of Centenarians: Japan's Revolution in Health and Wellness -- A U.S. General Launches a Health Revolution -- The Benefits of Japanese Food -- Most Generous in the World -- Tapping Big Data -- New Wave in Home Care -- Health and Human Security -- Notes

When the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) came to power in September 2009, Japanese citizens expected the imminent arrival of a new political era, characterized by a two-party system. However, in addition to the triple disasters of March 2011, the DPJ faced numerous difficulties arising from its controversial policies and massive party defections following the government's consumption tax hike legislation. The DPJ fell from power following a crushing defeat in the 2012 Lower House election, in which its seat total was drastically reduced. This book examines the September 2009-December 2012 administration of the DPJ from various perspectives, including policies, party governance, management, and legacy. It identifies the significance of the DPJ to Japan's party politics, explains the reasons for its downfall, and derives crucial lessons for the future of party democracy in Japan. The contributors, a team of professional academics and a lawyer, analyse the policies and events of the DPJ administration based on their interviews with key DPJ politicians and related persons at or close to the centre of the administration. Together they elicit insights from the experiences of the DPJ government to inform the expectations of Japan's party democracy. Explaining how the failure of the DPJ government has long-term importance for understanding Japanese politics, this book will be invaluable for students and scholars of the field.

"This book examines five features of Japan's 'Lost Decades': the speed of the economic decline in Japan compared to Japan's earlier global prowess; a rapidly declining population; considerable political instability and failed reform attempts; shifting balances of power in the region and changing relations with Asian neighbouring nations; and the lingering legacy of World War Two. Addressing the question of why the decades were lost, this book offers 15 new perspectives ranging from economics to ideology and beyond. Investigating problems such as the risk-averse behaviour of Japan's bureaucracy and the absence of strong political leadership, the authors analyse how the delay of 'loss-cutting policies' led to the 1997 financial crisis and a state of political gridlock where policymakers could not decide on firm strategies that would benefit national interests. To discuss the rebuilding of Japan, the authors argue that it is first essential to critically examine Japan's 'Lost Decades' and this book offers a comprehensive overview of Japan's recent 20 years of crisis. The book reveals that the 'Lost Decades' is not an issue unique to the Japanese context but has global relevance, and its study can provide important insights into challenges being faced in other mature economies. With chapters written by some of the world's leading Japan specialists and chapters focusing on a variety of disciplines, this book will be of interest to students and scholars in the areas of Japan studies, Politics, International Relations, Security Studies, Government Policy and History"--

"This book examines five features of Japan's 'Lost Decades': the speed of the economic decline in Japan compared to Japan's earlier global prowess; a rapidly declining population; considerable political instability and failed reform attempts; shifting balances of power in the region and changing relations with Asian neighbouring nations; and the lingering legacy of World War Two. Addressing the question of why the decades were lost, this book offers 15 new perspectives ranging from economics to ideology and beyond. Investigating problems such as the risk-averse behaviour of Japan's bureaucracy and the absence of strong political leadership, the authors analyse how the delay of 'loss-cutting policies' led to the 1997 financial crisis and a state of political gridlock where policymakers could not decide on firm strategies that would benefit national interests. To discuss the rebuilding of Japan, the authors argue that it is first essential to critically examine Japan's 'Lost Decades' and this book offers a comprehensive overview of Japan's recent 20 years of crisis. The book reveals that the 'Lost Decades' is not an issue unique to the Japanese context but has global relevance, and its study can provide important insights into challenges being faced in other mature economies. With chapters written by some of the world's leading Japan specialists and chapters focusing on a variety of disciplines, this book will be of interest to students and scholars in the areas of Japan studies, Politics, International Relations, Security Studies, Government Policy and History"--

Enthält Rezension von: The Peninsula Question : a chronicle of the second Korean nuclear crisis. - Washington/D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, 2007

Henry Kissinger wrote a few years ago that Japan has been for seven decades "an important anchor of Asian stability and global peace and prosperity." However, Japan has only played this anchoring role within an American-led liberal international order built from the ashes of World War II. Now that order itself is under siege, not just from illiberal forces such as China and Russia but from its very core, the United States under Donald Trump. The already evident damage to that order, and even its possible collapse, pose particular challenges for Japan, as explored in this book. Noted experts survey the difficult position that Japan finds itself in, both abroad and at home. The weakening of the rules-based order threatens the very basis of Japan's trade-based prosperity, with the unreliability of U.S. protection leaving Japan vulnerable to an economic and technological superpower in China and at heightened risk from a nuclear North Korea. Japan's response to such challenges are complicated by controversies over constitutional revision and the dark aspects of its history that remain a source of tension with its neighbors. The absence of virulent strains of populism have helped to provide Japan with a stable platform from which to pursue its international agenda. Yet with a rapidly aging population, widening intergenerational inequality, and high levels of public debt, the sources of Japan's stability - its welfare state and immigration policies - are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. Each of the book's chapters is written by a specialist in the field, and the book benefits from interviews with more than 40 Japanese policymakers and experts, as well as a public opinion survey. The book outlines today's challenges to the liberal international order, proposes a role for Japan to uphold, reform and shape the order, and examines Japan's assets as well as constraints as it seeks to play the role of a proactive stabilizer in the Asia-Pacific.

Front Cover -- Front Flap -- Title Page -- Copyright Information -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Fukushima Disaster Response Timeline -- Principal Figures in the Fukushima Disaster Response -- Station Blackout -- A State of Nuclear Emergency Declared -- Hydrogen Explosion -- Pumping in Seawater -- The Day of Reckoning -- Integrated Response Office -- Resident Evacuation -- The Last Bastion -- The Hyper Rescue Squad -- Operation Tomodachi (Friends) -- Yokosuka Shock -- The Hosono Process -- Worst-Case Scenario -- SPEEDI -- Planned Evacuation Area