The Pacific Council on International Policy has released a big report on Japan entitled "Can Japan Come Back" (pdf).
For all its economic might and strategic significance, Japan remains a puzzle to most Americans. Even those generally well-informed about international matters usually have but a basic knowledge about the country and little understanding of the trends that have transformed Japan from a supposed model of economic and political development to a country in seemingly endless crisis. They have even less of a sense of where Japan might be headed next. This series of study meetings and public events, held between January and June and conducted under the theme of Understanding Tomorrow's Japan, has examined Japan as much as possible from the "inside out," and sought to understand Japan first on its own terms, rather than immediately from the perspective of U.S.-Japan relations. Analysis will focus on the four sets of drivers that will determine Japan's future over the next 5-10 years: the globalization of the Japanese economy and society; new leaders and processes in Japan's political, economic, and social development; demographic and social change; and shifts in the regional economic and security environment, with a particular focus on the U.S.-Japan relationship.
Also please note:
NY Times - What Trumps a Desk at Yale? A Seat in Parliament
Mr. Saito, 33, was moving into a new office in Parliament, was getting used to snappy salutes from parliamentary guards, and was composing e-mails to his academic advisers, gingerly explaining that his doctoral thesis might be late.
He had the ultimate student excuse for a late paper: he has been sworn into the Parliament of Japan, the second most powerful economy in the world.
