Back to the Future? Japan’s Search for a Meaningful New Role in the Emerging Regional Order

“Is Japan back?” Economically, the evidence is mixed at best due largely to slowness in carrying out vital structural reforms. In electoral terms, the Liberal Democratic Party has regained much of its prior dominance under Abe Shinzo. Most problematic of all, Japan is not back at all in regaining a commanding position within East Asia, in part due to its slow economic transformation, but due also to the atavistic positions taken by Abe’s government on the historical interpretations of Japanese behavior in World War II.