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ARTICLE · 10 JANUARY 2014

Japan’s Immediate And Longer Term Outlook

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The start of 2014 provides a good point for looking ahead at the immediate and longer-term challenges facing Japan under the government of Shinzo Abe.

CanadaGovernment, Public Sector
Len Edwards
Len Edwards
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The start of 2014 provides a good point for looking ahead at the immediate and longer-term challenges facing Japan under the government of Shinzo Abe.

Looking back, 2013 has been a good year for Japan, for the Japanese and for Prime Minister Abe, who came to power only a year ago.  If things go well, historians may one day classify 2013 as the beginning of a "New Japan", the year when the country bid farewell to two decades of economic stagnation, re-kindled a new sense of confidence among its citizens for the future, and ushered in a return to a strong economic presence internationally for Japan.

Whether historians look as positively on Japan's more assertive security profile in Asia may be more problematic, although on this matter the rise of Chinese and its own assertiveness give Japan little choice but to be confident its safety is assured.  It is the nationalist tone of Japan's public positioning under Abe's leadership that raises the biggest questions.

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