Japan Chronicles 2001 - 2012

In 1991, Japan's "bubble" economy burst and the country was stuck in a quagmire for at least two decades. Domestically, Japan also suffered from political doldrums. Regionally, Japan was superseded by China. This book examines the attempts by political leaders and parties to address these problems but to little avail. This book argues that, with the exception of Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro, Japan was bedeviled by a chronically weak political leadership and unstable party system which made it difficult for fundamental problems to be resolved. Japan also has an ambivalent relationship with China, the one country whose burgeoning economy can lift the Japanese economy from its stagnation. Notwithstanding the "second lost decade", there were interesting efforts by different leaders and parties to offer a way out for a Japan in distress. This book also examines the approaches they tried, and why they often failed. Japan also struggled to come to terms with a China which overtook it as the second largest economy in the world. Despite this fundamental restructuring of international relations in East Asia, Japan's international relations also had interesting development - the enhancement of its "soft" power, its consolidation of peace in regions suffering from civil wars, and leadership in climate change policy. Simply put, despite two "lost decades", there were also innovations in domestic politics and regional affairs. The "second lost decade" ended in the year of devastating calamities of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear fallout (March 2011), Japan's worst crises since the end of World War II. Conceivably, after the darkest hour is the dawn. Historically, Japan has always rebounded after a grave national crisis or catastrophe. The triple calamities might well be the catalyst to galvanize the political, economic and intellectual elites to seek a national consensus to transcend this considerable challenge and end the "second lost decade".