Sitting tight

How the catastrophes of 2011 changed Japan

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"The first two were the opening up of Japan following the restoration of imperial rule in the 1860s, and the economic and democratic miracles after 1945. Yet in both cases an old regime had collapsed, making a new start unavoidable."
Only superficially so. In both cases, the bureaucracy of the previous regime has survived more or less intact, ensuring surprising continuity of daily lives for those who were not directly affected. Yes, the rules and the top dogs have changed, but the players didn't.
Having said that, the culmination of daily nudges from the new rules and rulers have resulted in surprising changes when accumulated over a period of decades.
Also, the actual turning points came a lot later than the nominal one taught in history books: Meiji restoration took place in 1868, but irreversible fall of the Samurais took place in the failed 1878 rebellion in Kyushu.
Post-war Japan was not shaped until the 1960 Defense Treaty with the US.
So, it is still way too early to conclude that the 2011 Earthquake did not cause lasting changes to Japan. You need to wait until the Tokyo Olympics (IF it happens) at a minimum, and probably until 2025 before making that call.

lanius excubitor

As Confucius says, if you learn without thinking, you cannot understand truly. If you think without learning, you will be self-righteous.
Mr Abe's weakness comes from his lack of expertise - (seems) he's been thinking hard but without much background learning, making Abenomics a miscellany of fragmentary measures proposed by his advisors.
Those measures are likely to be effective for superficial performance of Japan's economic figures, but not for real business/ economic activities - including those in Tohoku (and in other regional prefectures).
Presumably, what Mr Abe's thinking in his mind is to make the principle of collective defence in reality as well as modifying the current constitution while continuing the on-going economic cosmetic glossing before handing his administration to the trio of Sigeru Ishiba/ Yoshimasa Hayashi/ Nobuo Kishi(Abe's younger brother) - all from Chugoku Region, where Abe himself has his electoral district.



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