A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (88 page)

To try to restore national pride, in 1996 a group of revisionist historians known as the Tsukuru Kai decided to produce a history textbook that would supposedly make Japanese people proud of their history rather than ashamed of it. It came out in 2001, but while it was popular among the public, very few schools adopted it. In fact it was later denounced by the Japan Teachers’ Union and caused protests in China and Korea in particular for distorting history, such as stating that the occupation of Korea was justified and that the Chinese had goaded the Japanese. High-ranking figures of authority have continued making extraordinary claims, such as denying any Japanese aggression, right down to the present. The issue of the ‘comfort women’, which surfaced in particular in the 1990s, is still not satisfactorily resolved. Nor is the matter of making a sincere and demonstrably heart-felt apology – as opposed to mere verbalisation – to affected Asian nations.

Despite these unhelpful matters, progress has been made in relations with Korea in particular. Japan and Korea successfully co-hosted the Soccer World Cup in 2002, and many Japanese have become fans of Korean actors, particularly Bae Yong Joon. Young Japanese also admire young Koreans for their prowess in video games.

From 2003 the economy did recover, and a few years of steady growth followed. Japan was then hit by the global recession of 1908–09, experiencing some shrinkage, but it has since recovered, and despite a significant public debt is still the third biggest economy in the world – though it remains to be seen exactly what impact the disaster of March 2011 will have.

In the political world, the traditional rivals to the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party), the Socialist Party, faded away, and the main opposition to the LDP for the last decade has been the Democratic Party of Japan. In a seeming recovery from political apathy the public voted in the DPJ in 2009. However, the party has had a number of problems, such as the first prime minister, Hatoyama Yukio, being involved in a scandal, and then having to break a promise. His successor Kan Naoto, who took office in mid 2010, got off to a bad start by proposing a doubling of the sales tax, from which he had to retreat rapidly. There were a few more hiccups for him after that, but his greatest challenge was dealing with the catastrophic events of 11 March 2011. He suffered a loss of support and resigned on 26 August, and on 2 September 2011 he was succeeded as prime minister by Noda Yoshihiko, another senior DPJ member.

It is hard to define postmodernism or post-postmodernism, and this will not be attempted here, but many scholars associate it with choice and playfulness, and these are certainly characteristics of the last decade in Japan. Such elements are seen inter alia in consumerism and fashion, and
manga
,
animé
, and video games, and so forth. Japanese technology has contributed significantly to the numerous and sometimes bewildering array of electronic items now available.

In terms of internationalisation and globalisation Japan has made steps forward – or perhaps more exactly, outward. For example, a number of western-style laws were passed in the early years of the new millennium related to privacy of personal information and transparency of official information. As another example, while the number of foreigners living in Japan is still quite low in absolute terms, it has nonetheless almost trebled since the mid 1980s, and similarly there has been a significant increase in the number of Japanese living overseas. In international/ global indexes Japan generally seems to be quite highly placed and therefore presumably well respected, though it could perhaps aim for a few places higher in such international index rankings – but of course this could also be said of a number of other nations. Its worst placing has been the
Global Gender Report
, which reflects the lack of empowerment of women in both political and managerial positions. This is a matter that clearly needs attention, but it has continued for some while, and may unfortunately be delayed further as Japan necessarily focuses primarily on the huge and more immediate task of recovering from the March 2011 catastrophe.

At present, Japan is a superpower not only in terms of its economy, but also its technological and cultural standing and impact on the world. It is a shame that its standing is not so strong in matters political.

The bursting of the Bubble brought about considerable problems for Japan, not just a decade or more of little economic growth but also in terms of negative attitudes amongst the public. The economy has recovered, and is still third-ranked in the world, but it remains to be seen how badly the T
hoku Earthquake of March 2011 will impact upon its economy. Showing their usual resilience, the Japanese will come through, and perhaps the physical rebuilding can be mirrored in the rebuilding of Japan not just as an economic and technological and cultural super-power, but also as a once-promised ‘lifestyle superpower’. However, all this building will require strong leadership from politicians whom the public can respect, and that is by no means guaranteed.

Table 7.1
   Key developments from late 1980s to 2011

Table 7.2
   Key values and practices from late 1980s to 2011

C
ONCLUSION:
L
ESSONS FOR
A
SPIRING
S
UPERPOWERS

The term ‘miracle’ has been applied by westerners more than once to Japan’s modern history. It has been used to describe its achievements in Meiji, when in just half a century it developed from an obscure and isolated land of paddy fields to a major imperial power. It was used again just a few decades later, to describe the nation’s even more rapid postwar rise from the ashes of defeat to become by some measures the wealthiest on the planet, and by any measures a huge economic superpower.