Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama announced his resignation this week, leading to the first major leadership challenge for the ruling Democratic Party of Japan since taking office in a landslide last year. The selection of Kan was not unexpected, but highlights a number of more subtle, long-term trends in Japan’s post-war evolution.
Living in Japan for the past year, I’ve had an unparalleled opportunity to see the daily life of the citizenry as they go about their daily lives. It’s an aging population, to be sure, but that’s not to say that there isn’t an ever present throng of young people going to-and-fro, usually sporting a school [...]
