A Beautiful Country By Michael Auslin

A few years ago, at one of those Tokyo watering holes catering to “salarymen,” I heard an observation that reflected a sea change in the way Japanese view themselves. “We used to want to be a keizai taikoku [economic superpower],” said this mid-level corporate bureaucrat, “but now we want to be a shakai taikoku [social superpower].”

The sentiment was a far cry from the heady days of the late-1980s, when many were claiming not merely that the Japanese model of industrial production, lifetime employment, and harmonious labor relations would soon cover the globe, but also that Japan would soon take its place as a political superpower, claiming a seat on the United Nations Security Council, and perhaps even fighting another war with the United States over economic differences.

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