Contents -- Preface -- List of Contributors -- Introduction Japan: Descending Asian Giant? -- Part 1 Economics and Politics -- 1 Financial System Reform: Recovery or Retrogression? -- 2 Political Earthquake in Japan: How Much of a Difference Will it Make? -- Part 2 Foreign Policy and Security -- 3 Japan's ODA as Soft Power -- 4 Japan in Global Governance: War and Peace -- 5 Japan's Politics of Environment and Climate Change: From NIMBY to Global Networks -- 6 National Security in Japan's Space Policy -- 7 Japan's Regional Engagement: Network Diplomacy -- 8 Can Japan Engage Northeast Asia? Overcoming Perceptual and Strategic Deficits -- Part 3 Social Challenges -- 9 Japan's Education System: Problems and Prospects in the Post-Industrial Age -- 10 The Impact of Changing Age Structure on Demographic Dividends and Intergenerational Transfers in Japan -- 11 Have Jobs and Hope Gone Forever in Japan? From Family and Firms to a New Social Network -- 12 The Culture of Migration Politics in Japan -- Index.