Japan Analysis – La Lettre du Japon has been a pioneering news bulletin on current political, economic and security debates in Japan and within its decision-making circles, placing those issues in their national context and in their historical background. While identifying new trends and current affairs in Japan, the authors go beyond the news to offer readers a tool for assessing the deep structural mutations, sometimes unfamiliar to the public, of the third economic power.
In line with the topics introduced by the previous issue of Japan Analysis (focusing on Japan’s openness to the world), this 35th issue of Japan Analysis explores the various actions recently initiated by the Abe government to make Japan a…
The number and nature of international rankings published in large-circulation magazines have grown significantly in importance in the last fifteen years. They now cover a multiplicity of topicsdomains and are structured around criteria ranging from gross domestic product and the…
The vote held on 6 December 2013 for the Special Law on Protecting State Secrets (tokutei himitsu hogo hô) has been surrounded by a lively debate in Japan: both the Japanese political left and right have not hesitated to define…
Japan Analysis‘ 32nd issue comes at the end of a year of analysis of Japanese current affairs, dominated by interrogations about the current and coming orientations of Abe Shinzo’s second term: after years of governmental instability and in a tense…
In September 2012, the world discovered how much Sino-Japanese relations have deteriorated since the mid-2000s after violent anti-Japanese protests enflamed Chinese public opinion. In Europe and the United States, some were concerned about the repercussions of these tensions on regional…
As the surveys announced, the Liberal-Democratic Party had a sweeping victory during the senatorial elections on the 21 July 2013. This triumph came about after the Prime Minister, Shinzō Abe, in June 2013, unveiled the highly awaited “third arrow”. This…
Although the declining Yen seen in late December 2012 initially corresponded to a correction, the current monetary policy of competitive devaluation used by Japan to take the country out of its deflationary spiral is worrying. Beyond the controversial reactions to…
On 16 December 2012 the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan won a landslide majority in the parliamentary elections. While this result was expected, it represents more of a backlash against the Democratic Party of Japan who were not able to…
With the Diet’s June 2012 adoption of the project that doubled the consumption tax and passed other measures destined to reform Japan’s fiscal policy and social security system, the government of Noda Yoshihiko seems to have won a significant victory….
As each year in April, the new school year has begun in Japan. However, Tôdai university announced that it would begin its university year in September, in order to match the rythm of North-American and European institutions. It provoked a…