Reinventing Japan: New Directions in Global Leadership

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Highly readable yet deeply researched, this book serves as an essential guide to the many ways in which Japan has risen to become one of the world's most creative and innovative societies. During its so-called Lost Decades, Japan has quietly reinvented itself from a nation with an economy playing catch-up into a global leader in innovation and creativity, one whose "soft power" extends from postmodern architecture to pluripotent stem cells. Written by a dozen experts in their fields, including architect Kengo Kuma, designer of Tokyo's 2020 Olympic stadium, this book describes Japan's contributions to the world in fields ranging from fashion and pop culture to development aid and historical reconciliation. In addition, it demonstrates how Japan has led efforts to contend with several social and economic challenges facing the entire developed world, including demographic aging, rising healthcare costs, and wasteful consumption. Using these accomplishments as evidence, it argues that, in an era of questions surrounding the capability of American leadership, the time has come for Japan to step into a new role as a purveyor of models and values better suited to today's multipolar and diverse world.

Reviews

A theme is that Japan has been a sort of Galapagos, somewhat isolated from the world, with advantages and problems stemming from this. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * Choice *

Author Bio

Martin Fackler is former Tokyo Bureau Chief for The New York Times (20092015), for which he is currently assistant editor in Asia. Yoichi Funabashi is an award-winning Japanese journalist, author, and chairman of the Asia Pacific Initiative (formerly Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation), which he cofounded.