Book Launch: Shutting out the Sun

Michael Zielenziger's new book, Shutting Out the Sun, offers an intelligent, insightful look into the economic disquiet and disturbing social trends afflicting Japan. Though once on the verge of eclipsing the United States as the world’s dominant economic power, Japan failed to recover fully from the economic collapse of the early 1990s and now confronts a Japanese society and economy jeopardized by disaffected youth.

Exploring the reasons behind Japan’s status as the industrialized nation with the highest suicide rate and the lowest birthrate, as well as rising rates of depression among young people, Zielenziger argues that Japan’s tradition-seeped society and aversion to change, coupled with its distrust of individuality, are stifling the reforms and impetus necessary for economic revival. Unconventional and controversial, Shutting Out the Sun is a bold attempt to explain Japan’s stagnation and its implications for the rest of the world.

This event featured a brief presentation by Zielenziger, followed by a question and answer session moderated by Steven Clemons, who directs both New America's American Strategy Program and the Japan Policy Research Institute.

Participants

• Michael Zielenziger
  Visiting Scholar, Institute of East Asian Studies, U.C. Berkley
  Former Tokyo Bureau Chief, San Jose Mercury News
• Steven Clemons
  Director, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation
  Director, Japan Policy Research Institute