Author: Jeff Kingston
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0415274834
Category : Civil Society
Languages : en
Pages : 375
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Book Description
Controversially, this book argues that the Japan that emerges from its manifold problems of the 1990s may be stronger than before.
Author: Jeff Kingston
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134478275
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 375
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Book Description
The 1990s have been termed as 'Japan's lost decade' to describe how the phenomenal growth in the Japanese economy ground to a halt and the country was crippled by enormous and ongoing political, economic and social problems. In responding to these unprecedented difficulties, wide-ranging reforms have been adopted including NPO, information disclosure and judicial reform legislation. Controversially, this book argues that such reforms are creating a more robust civil society and demonstrate that Japan is far more dynamic than is generally recognized.
Author: Jeff Kingston
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317861922
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233
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Book Description
Since 1945, Japan has successfully reinvented itself, rising from the ashes of defeat to become a peaceful and prosperous nation. It is seen as an inspiration for other developing nations and contributes significantly to global development. As the third largest economy in the world, with a reputation for technological innovation and cultural creativity, Japan is a country shaping the world we live in. In this new edition of Japan in Transformation, Jeffrey Kingston explores the character of the nation as it has evolved since the end of the Second World War. The book: - examines the US Occupation and explains the causes of the economic miracle and its demise - evaluates the effect of the Lost Decade of the 1990s and the unravelling of the Japan, Inc system that prevailed in the twentieth century - analyses such central and topical issues as the demographic crisis, regional relations, security concerns, political change and the role of women Expanded and thoroughly revised to cover the period of 1945 to 2010, this second edition of Japan in Transformation provides a succinct and comprehensive study of the recent history of one of the most dynamic nations in the modern world.
Author: Mireya Solis
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815739982
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261
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Book Description
Why has Japan emerged from the “lost decades” unscathed from the populist wave and a far more consequential actor in the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific? In answering this question, Japan’s Quiet Leadership provides a sweeping look at Japan’s domestic economic and political evolution, its economic statecraft, and the array of geopolitical challenges that have triggered a gradual but substantial shift in the country’s security profile. This deep dive into Japan’s trajectory over the last three decades underscores Japan’s hidden strengths in its democratic resilience, social stability, and proactive diplomacy; while reckoning with the profound challenges the nation faces: depopulation, rising inequality, voter disengagement, and threats to Asia’s long peace. The book traces the profound currents of change coursing through the Japanese polity and its external environment; and the myriad ways in which Japan’s experience has become more relevant to countries coping with slow growth, adverse demographics, adjustment to economic globalization, and the emergence of a powerful and assertive China. This is a story of Japan’s reinvention as a network power to overcome the harsh realities of diminishing relative capabilities. In reshaping the Indo-Pacific, Tokyo deployed a robust economic strategy of trade integration and infrastructure finance; and a proactive security diplomacy cultivating new partnerships with regional and extra-regional actors and deepening the alliance with the United States. Nevertheless, acute geopolitical rifts, Japan’s pandemic insularity, and the securitization of international economic relations are testing Japan’s statecraft of connectivity. The tasks at home are no less pressing: delivering on the green, digital, and human capital transformations, avoiding the return of the politics of indecision at the helm of the nation, and fostering democratic dynamism. This book illuminates where the Japanese polity, economy, and people are heading as we move past the Abe era, and well into the 2020s and beyond.
Author: Sebastian Maslow
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438486103
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296
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Book Description
Mired in national crises since the early 1990s, Japan has had to respond to a rapid population decline; the Asian and global financial crises; the 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and the Fukushima nuclear meltdown; the COVID-19 pandemic; China’s economic rise; threats from North Korea; and massive public debt. In Crisis Narratives, Institutional Change, and the Transformation of the Japanese State, established specialists in a variety of areas use a coherent set of methodologies, aligning their sociological, public policy, and political science and international relations perspectives, to account for discrepancies between official rhetoric and policy practice and actual perceptions of decline and crisis in contemporary Japan. Each chapter focuses on a distinct policy field to gauge the effectiveness and the implications of political responses through an analysis of how crises are narrated and used to justify policy interventions. Transcending boundaries between issue areas and domestic and international politics, these essays paint a dynamic picture of the contested but changing nature of social, economic, and, ultimately political institutions as they constitute the transforming Japanese state.
Author: Jeff Kingston
Publisher: Seminar Studies in History
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268
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Book Description
AUTHOR copy: Japan in Transformation explores the conservative inertias and progressive yearnings that characterise contemporary Japan. The second half of the twentieth century was a tumultuous period that transformed the way Japanese view the world and act in it. This ideological transformation was driven by and reinforced institutional changes, economic development, political ferment and the dynamic tension between prevailing norms and shifting realities. While focusing on transformation, this book is sensitive to the incremental and cumulative nature of change and howthe past resonates powerfully in the present. Old verities linger and influence the patterns, pace and nature of ongoing changes. As Japan enters the twenty first century, it is in the midst of a third great transformation on a par with the Meiji Restoration (1868) and the US Occupation (1945-52) and it is not yet certain whether Japan will yet again emerge from considerable adversity with the same degree of success it enjoyed in the past. The various forces that are driving the metamorphosis of modern Japan are exposing the limits of the postwar model. The logic of the economic and political arrangements that have prevailed are changing, with profound consequences for society. There is ambivalence about the rapidity of change and the erosion of tenets many Japanese feel have been important to their identity as people, cohesion as a community and success as a renovating democracy, taming militarism and rejoining the community of industrialized societies, but seems to have done a better job in containing and coping with these problems. This interpretive history focuses on the economic miracle, how Japan's troubled past in Asia is debated among Japanese and how it influences its contemporary regional relations, the changing role of women, the implications of Japan's demographic time bomb, the Third Transformation and the Lost Decade of the 1990s.
Author: Barbara R Ambros
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479836516
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255
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Book Description
A comprehensive history of women in Japanese religious traditions Scholars have widely acknowledged the persistent ambivalence with which the Japanese religious traditions treat women. Much existing scholarship depicts Japan’s religious traditions as mere means of oppression. But this view raises a question: How have ambivalent and even misogynistic religious discourses on gender still come to inspire devotion and emulation among women? In Women in Japanese Religions, Barbara R. Ambros examines the roles that women have played in the religions of Japan. An important corrective to more common male-centered narratives of Japanese religious history, this text presents a synthetic long view of Japanese religions from a distinct angle that has typically been discounted in standard survey accounts of Japanese religions. Drawing on a diverse collection of writings by and about women, Ambros argues that ambivalent religious discourses in Japan have not simply subordinated women but also given them religious resources to pursue their own interests and agendas. Comprising nine chapters organized chronologically, the book begins with the archeological evidence of fertility cults and the early shamanic ruler Himiko in prehistoric Japan and ends with an examination of the influence of feminism and demographic changes on religious practices during the “lost decades” of the post-1990 era. By viewing Japanese religious history through the eyes of women, Women in Japanese Religions presents a new narrative that offers strikingly different vistas of Japan’s pluralistic traditions than the received accounts that foreground male religious figures and male-dominated institutions.
Author: Jeff Kingston
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444351745
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327
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Book Description
Contemporary Japan: History, Politics and Social Change since the 1980s presents a comprehensive examination of the causes of the Japanese economic bubble in the late 1980s and the socio-political consequences of the recent financial collapse. Represents the only book to examine in depth the turmoil of Japan since Emperor Hirohito died in 1989, the Cold War ended, and the economy collapsed Provides an assessment of Japan's dramatic political revolution of 2009 Analyzes how risk has increased in Japan, undermining the sense of security and causing greater disparities in society Assesses Japan's record on the environment, the consequences of neo-liberal reforms, immigration policies, the aging society, the US alliance, the Imperial family, and the 'yakuza' criminal gangs Selected as a 2011 Outstanding Academic Title by CHOICE
Author: Jeff Kingston
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429767366
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258
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Book Description
Japan in Transformation, 1945–2020 has been newly revised and updated to examine the 3.11 natural and nuclear disasters, Emperor Akihito’s abdication, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s legacies, the 2019 World Cup and the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to COVID-19. Through a chronological approach, this volume traces the development of Japan’s history from the US Occupation in 1945 to the political consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. It evaluates the impact of the Lost Decade of the 1990s as well as key issues such as the demographic crisis, war memory, regional relations, security concerns, constitutional revision and political stagnation. In response to post-2010 developments such as Abenomics, the demise of the Democratic Party of Japan and immigration policy, chapters have been reassessed to account for changes in politics, the role of women, Japan’s relationships with Asia and how and why policies have fallen short of stated goals. Overall, the volume reveals how Japan transformed into one of the largest economic and technological powers of the modern world. With a Chronology, Who’s who and Glossary, this edition is the ideal resource for all students interested in Japanese politics, economy and society since the end of World War II.
Author: Jeff Kingston
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405191945
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327
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Book Description
Contemporary Japan: History, Politics and Social Change since the 1980s presents a comprehensive examination of the causes of the Japanese economic bubble in the late 1980s and the socio-political consequences of the recent financial collapse. Represents the only book to examine in depth the turmoil of Japan since Emperor Hirohito died in 1989, the Cold War ended, and the economy collapsed Provides an assessment of Japan's dramatic political revolution of 2009 Analyzes how risk has increased in Japan, undermining the sense of security and causing greater disparities in society Assesses Japan's record on the environment, the consequences of neo-liberal reforms, immigration policies, the aging society, the US alliance, the Imperial family, and the 'yakuza' criminal gangs Selected as a 2011 Outstanding Academic Title by CHOICE
