Japan after the Economic Miracle: In Search of New Directions (Social Indicators Research Series Book 3)

As Japan comes to grips with a decade of economic malaise after its spectacular post-war growth record, how will Japanese society react? Contributors to this volume examine the challenges ahead for Japan in the fields of politics, economics, sociology, environment and business. This multidisciplinary inquiry looks for areas of continuity and for new directions in government, business and social policy and practice. Also examined is how Western students should approach the study of Japan; what new directions should institutions take to ensure that students learn about the `real' Japan? Written by Canadian academics, the articles in this volume will be of interest to academics and policy-makers studying or teaching about contemporary Japan. Front Matter....Pages i-ix Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Introduction....Pages 1-7 Front Matter....Pages 9-9 Japan’s postwar fordism: an historical perspective on the economic crisis in Japan....Pages 11-35 Restoring the legitimacy of Japanese business in the post-bubble era: can good economics make good ethics easier?....Pages 37-57 Changing behaviour of Japanese consumers....Pages 59-69 Back in the race: Japan and the internet....Pages 71-84 New directions in Canada’s Japanese-owned automobile plants....Pages 85-103 Producing and managing hazardous waste in Japan....Pages 105-126 Sustainability of farm settlements in Japan after the economic miracle: A case study of Onoji hamlet in Yamanashi prefecture....Pages 127-144 New directions in Japanese urban planning: a case study of Nagoya....Pages 145-168 The aging of Japanese society: human resource management in transition....Pages 169-183 Contemporary party politics in Japan: an old wine in a new bottle....Pages 185-223 Front Matter....Pages 225-225 Breaking into the Japanese market: Canadian companies and the challenge of doing business in Japan....Pages 227-249 Learning with a new media The development of kanaCLASSICTM....Pages 251-263 History of Japanese language education at UBC, 1956–1998: Challenges and future directions....Pages 265-276 Teaching Japanese to a multicultural student population....Pages 277-301 Beyond boundaries: Japanese migrant women in North America....Pages 303-319 Back Matter....Pages 321-327