Contemporary Japan: History, Politics, and Social Change since the 1980s

This comprehensive study of Japanese history since the 1980s has been expanded and updated to include analysis of the cataclysmic earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 as well as their aftermath. The author includes an assessment of the environmental impact of the Fukushima nuclear power station meltdowns and examines its political consequences, including the ouster of prime minister Naoto Kan by pro–nuclear advocates and efforts to boost renewable energy.

With energy policy in flux and a massive reconstruction project just beginning in a time of global economic downturn, this is a critical moment in Japanese history. One of the foremost authorities on the history and politics of the region, the author sets the nation s current challenges in the context of events since the 1980s, when rampant speculation created an economic bubble that, when burst, plunged the country into prolonged stagnation as housing and share prices imploded and public debt surged. With penetrating analysis of key issues that have loomed large in Japan since the end of the Cold War, including the erosion of job security, as well as its immigration policies, aging society, and alliance with the US, this volume remains a superb guide to recent events in Japan.

Map vii

Series Editor s Preface viii

Acknowledgments x

Part I Introduction 1

1 Transformations After World War II 3

2 The Lost Decade 23

Part II Risk and Consequences 39

3 Defusing the Demographic Time Bomb 41

4 Families at Risk 60

5 Jobs at Risk 77

Part III Politics and Consequences 93

6 Contemporary Politics 95

7 Security and the Peace Constitution 115

8 Immigration 136

9 War Memory and Responsibility 154

Part IV Environment and Disaster 175

10 Environmental Issues 177

11 3/11: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Crisis 198

Part V Institutions at Risk 221

12 The Imperial Family 223

13 Yakuza 241

Part VI Postscript 261

14 Prospects 263

Glossary 270

Notes 278

Further Reading 293

Index 302

Jeff Kingston is Professor of History and Director of Asian Studies at the Japan Campus of Temple University. He has written widely on modern Japanese history and Japan s relations with Asia, including the books Japan in Transformation 1952 2000 (2001) and Japan s Quiet Transformation: Social Change and Civil Society in the 21st Century (2004). He has also edited Natural Disaster and Nuclear Crisis in Japan (2012). With academic interests that include a broader regional purview, he contributes to a variety of major publications and is regularly interviewed by global media outlets.

"One of the foremost foreign writers on modern Japan, Kingston provides another wide–ranging analysis of interest to all of those with a stake in the nation′s future." The Japan Times

"Kingston′s discussion of the changes Japan faces in the 21st century is among the most comprehensive and accessible treatments of Japan′s recent history available." Choice