Episode 540 – The End of the Beginning

Facing Backward Podcasts

On the final episode of the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the LDP completely fails to meet the challenge of the bubble collapse, and the Lost Decades see Japan’s economy stagnate and its political and social system under severe pressure. Where to from here? Only time will tell.

Sources

Pempel, T.J. Regime Shift

Anchordoguy, Marie. Reprogramming Japan

Werner, Richard. Princes of the Yen

Kingston, Jeff. Japan in Transformation, 1945-2010.

Images

Japan’s unemployment rate has spiked since the bubble; it still remains low compared to other industrialized countries, but the effects on Japanese society have been substantially disruptive.

The results of the 2009 general election in Japan (241 seats needed for a majority). Red is the DPJ; Green is the LDP.

By comparison, here are the 2012 results. You can see the complete shellacking of the DPJ clearly.

The founding of the CDP being announced during a press conference in September, 2020. How successful the CDP will be will be seen in the general elections next year.

From the Japan Times: A CDP press conference led by party president Edano Yukio, a former DPJ member.

This gif shows the shift in Japan’s demographics over the course of the post-feudal period, and illustrates the nature of both the declining birthrate and aging population very well