Japanese Politics After 3-11: Strong Political Leadership or Artful Policy Compromise: The Democratic Party of Japan Searches for an Effective Balance
Special Japan Studies Program and CEAS Series: Winter-Spring 2011-12Looking Back, Looking Forward: Japan's March 11 Disasters One Year Later
Gregory Noble, Professor, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) came to power loudly proclaiming an end to the old deference to bureaucrats and favored interest groups. Two and a half years later, it has backtracked on many of its bold promises. In the face of daunting financial challenges and obstreperous opposition parties, Prime Minister Noda seeks, still somewhat unsteadily, to establish a new balance between strong leadership and artful compromise with allies and enemies alike.
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Special Japan Studies Program and CEAS Series: Winter-Spring 2011-12Looking Back, Looking Forward: Japan's March 11 Disasters One Year Later
The earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster that hit Japan in March 2011 had both immediate catastrophic consequences and long term repercussions. Fundamental areas of Japan’s environment, economy, society, and collective national psyche were deeply affected, giving rise to a broad range of urgent issues. These include economic debates about how to meet the country’s energy demands with nuclear power plants offline, and what path to take for the country’s energy future; political crises, including criticism of the government’s disaster response; the psychological challenges of coping with trauma and grief; a daunting environmental clean-up; and social developments, including a new wave of civil society activism. This series brings together scholars and activists from a wide range of specialties to take stock of how the Japanese have been affected by the disasters, and to assess the efforts of residents, volunteers, and policy makers to recover and move forward.