Japan Restored

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<b>How Japan Can Reinvent Itself and Why This Is Important for America and the World.</b> In 1979, the book <i>Japan as Number One: Lessons for America</i> by Harvard University professor Ezra Vogel caused a sensation in the United States by pointing out that Japan was surpassing America as world economic leader; the book remains to this day the all-time bestseller in Japan of non-fiction by a Western author. The book was timely: Japan's subsequent "bubble era" of the 1980s saw the country booming. But since the economic bubble burst at the start of the 1990s, Japan has been in decline. <i>Japan Restored</i> by Clyde Prestowitz, taking up Vogel's baton, is written as a vision of Japan in the year 2050 when the country's economic recovery has made it a world leader in every area of human endeavor. Prestowitz looks back to the present year as such a low point for Japan that a special reform commission was set up that helped the country regain its former position as a leader in technology, in business, and geopolitically. Looking at education, innovation, the role of women, corporate organization, energy, infrastructure, domestic government, and international alliances Prestowitz draws up a fascinating and controversial blueprint for the future success of Japan. As the eyes of the world turn towards Japan in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics, <i>Japan Restored</i> is as timely as the 1979 Vogel book that inspired it.