Is Japan Really Changing Its Ways

Explains the politics behind the Japanese regulatory reforms, the nature of the reforms, and their effect on both the domestic economy and Japan's international trade.

Deregulation has been at the top of Japan's economic policy agenda for many years. Now, in the midst of a financial crisis that engulfs all of Asia, pressures on the Japanese government for substantial reform--coming from both inside and outside forces--are stronger than ever. But is Japan actually making the changes necessary to reduce market controls, encourage competition, and create new opportunities for imports? To most outside observers, regulatory reform in Japan is an incomprehensible blur of grandiose proposals and byzantine political maneuvering, which masks developments that could be of tremendous significance to the world at large. In this book, experts from the United States and Japan cut through the fog that surrounds Japanese regulatory reform. They review the characteristics of Japanese regulation and analyze the content of regulatory reforms proposed to date as well as the political dynamics that shaped them. The book also examines the nuts-and-bolts issues of reforms in major economic sectors and the implications of deregulation for access to Japanese markets for foreign imports. By focusing on both the larger political, economic, and strategic contexts and on the way in which the micro and macro aspects of regulatory reform are interconnected, this volume makes comprehensible the tidal wave of proposals and posturing coming out of Japan. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Miyajima Hideaki, Elizabeth Norville, Kosuke Oyama, and Yul Sohn. Lonny E. Carlile is an assistant professor of Japanese Studies in the Center for Japanese Studies/Department of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Mark C. Tilton is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Purdue University.

This is a new analysis of recent changes in important Japanese institutions. It addresses the origin, development, and recent adaptation of core institutions, including financial institutions, corporate governance, lifetime employment, and the amakudari system. After four decades of rapid economic growth in Japan, the 1990s saw the country enter a prolonged period of economic stagnation. Policy reforms were initially half-hearted, and businesses were slow to restructure as the global economy changed. The lagging economy has been impervious to aggressive fiscal stimulus measures and has been plagued by ongoing price deflation for years. Japan’s struggle has called into question the ability of the country’s economic institutions, originally designed to support factor accumulation and rapid development, to adapt to the new economic environment of the twenty-first century. This book discusses both historical and international comparisons including Meiji Japan, and recent economic and financial reforms in Korea, Scandinavia, Switzerland, and New Zealand, placing the current institutional changes in perspective. The contributors argue that, contrary to conventional wisdom that Japanese institutions have remained relatively rigid, there has been significant institutional change over the last decade.

Japan is currently undergoing many interesting changes, which the Japanese government trumpets as fundamental reform, but which some observers suspect will turn out to be superficial, part of a long sequence of changes which have been much less far-reaching than at first anticipated. This book provides a survey of the many changes currently in progress in Japan, including political reform, economic deregulation and liberalisation, and reforms to environmental policy, science and technology, education, and immigration policy. The essays in this volume explore the reform process in Japan overall, and provides a thorough overview of major current developments in Japan.

Presenting a comprehensive survey of the telecommunications industry in Japan, Taplin and Wakui cover the different sectors of the industry – including mobile, broadband and satellite, whilst considering key questions such as the structure and economics of the industry, government policy, and international relations issues connected to the industry. The volume brings together unique analysis by renowned experts in the telecommunications field. One major overall problem is that, unlike many other industries, Japan has lagged behind other countries in telecommunications. Japanese Telecommunications considers why this should be so, showing how far this is attributable to an unmodernized industry structure, and assessing the measures being taken to address the problem. After over a decade of struggle, Japan has recorded rapid uptake of broadband, and Japanese advanced mobile services have become increasingly successful on a global scale. Japan has also undergone regulatory reform, and competition policy is now given top priority by government. Taplin and Wakui examine the most recent developments and provide signposts for the future.

Deregulation has been at the top of Japan's economic policy agenda for many years. Now, in the midst of a financial crisis that engulfs all of Asia, pressures on the Japanese government for substantial reform--coming from both inside and outside forces--are stronger than ever. But is Japan actually making the changes necessary to reduce market controls, encourage competition, and create new opportunities for imports? To most outside observers, regulatory reform in Japan is an incomprehensible blur of grandiose proposals and byzantine political maneuvering, which masks developments that could be of tremendous significance to the world at large. In this book, experts from the United States and Japan cut through the fog that surrounds Japanese regulatory reform. They review the characteristics of Japanese regulation and analyze the content of regulatory reforms proposed to date as well as the political dynamics that shaped them. The book also examines the nuts-and-bolts issues of reforms in major economic sectors and the implications of deregulation for access to Japanese markets for foreign imports. By focusing on both the larger political, economic, and strategic contexts and on the way in which the micro and macro aspects of regulatory reform are interconnected, this volume makes comprehensible the tidal wave of proposals and posturing coming out of Japan. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Miyajima Hideaki, Elizabeth Norville, Kosuke Oyama, and Yul Sohn. Lonny E. Carlile is an assistant professor of Japanese Studies in the Center for Japanese Studies/Department of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Mark C. Tilton is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Purdue University.

A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

This book argues that 'the generation gap' in Japan is something more than young people resisting the adult social order before entering and conforming to that order. Rather, it signifies something more fundamental: the emergence of a new Japan, which may be quite different from the Japan of postwar decades. It argues that while young people in Japan in their teens, twenties and early thirties are not engaged in overt social or political resistance, they are turning against the existing Japanese social order, whose legitimacy has been undermined by the past decade of economic downturn. The book shows how young people in Japan are thinking about their bodies and identities, their social relationships, and their employment and parenting, in new and generationally contextual ways, that may help to create a future Japan quite different from Japan of the recent past.