Publication

This paper argues that the August 2009 elections in Japan are likely to take the country in an entirely different direction from the one it has pursued since the end of World War II. According to the author, there will be changes in five areas, all of them significant for the world: Japan will begin to address the problem posed by a rapidly ageing population; it will redirect public money towards the less advantaged segments of the population; it will reduce the power of the bureaucracy; it will redefine its relations with the US, and it will move closer to its Asian neighbors, in particular China.