Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan [Hardcover]

This new and fully updated second edition of Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan provides undergraduate and graduate students with an interdisciplinary textbook written by leading specialists on contemporary Japan. Students will gain the analytical insights and information necessary to assess the challenges that confront the Japanese people, policymakers and private and public-sector institutions in Japan today.

Featuring a comprehensive analysis of key debates and issues confronting Japan, issues covered include:

• A rapidly aging society and changing employment system
• Nuclear and renewable energy policy
• Gender discrimination
• Immigration and ethnic minorities
• Post-3/11 tsunami, earthquake and nuclear meltdown developments
• Sino-Japanese relations

An essential reference work for students of contemporary Japan, it is also an invaluable source for a variety of courses, including comparative politics, anthropology, public policy and international relations.

Introduction, Jeff Kingston PART I: Political environment 1. Japanese politics: mainstream or exotic?, Arthur Stockwin 2. The politics of trade policy, Aurelia George Mulgan 3. Limiting fundamental rights protection in Japan: the role of the Supreme Court, Lawrence Repeta 4. Civil society: past, present, and future, Akihiro Ogawa 5. Japans contemporary media, David McNeill PART II: Nuclear and renewable Energy 6. Revisiting the limitlCÃ