What's Wrong with Japan? Implications for Tokyo's Political Dysfunction Podcast

October 21, 2008


Left to right: Charles Pritchard, Yuki Tatsumi, Yoshihiro Tsurumi.


Panelists:
Charles Pritchard, President, Korea Economic Institute
Yuki Tatsumi, Senior Associate, Henry L. Stimson Center
Yoshihiro Tsurumi, Professor of International Business, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, the City University of New York

Moderator:
Daniel Rosenblum, Vice President, Corporate & Policy, Japan Society

During his eight years in the White House, Bill Clinton shared summits and state dinners with no fewer than seven of his prime ministerial counterparts in Japan. With three consecutive terms of strong domestic leadership, forceful economic reform measures and coherent, if controversial, foreign policies, Junichiro Koizumi looked to reverse a troubling trend of short-lived, inspirationally-deficient leaders. The swift departures of Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda in the past year alone, however, suggest a return to the revolving door premierships of the past. Japan's sputtering economy and strained East Asian relations offer no shortage of potential political and economic challenges for the next Japanese administration, but lawmakers and businesspeople at home and diplomats abroad might well wonder who is at the helm of the world’s second largest economy and whether it really matters. Our panels of policy and business experts discuss what can be done to restore domestic and international confidence in Japan’s ability to lead and, in the absence of leadership, whether the world needs and expects a politically potent Japan.