As Japan comes to grips with a decade of economic malaise after its spectacular post-war growth record, how will Japanese society react? Contributors to this volume examine the challenges ahead for Japan in the fields of politics, economics, sociology, environment and business. This multidisciplinary inquiry looks for areas of continuity and for new directions in government, business and social policy and practice. Also examined is how Western students should approach the study of Japan; what new directions should institutions take to ensure that students learn about the `real' Japan? Written by Canadian academics, the articles in this volume will be of interest to academics and policy-makers studying or teaching about contemporary Japan.

Inhalt
I. Searching for new directions: the Japanese challenges and responses.- 1. Japan's postwar Fordism: an historical perspective on the economic crisis in Japan.- 2. Restoring the legitimacy of Japanese business in the post-bubble era: can good economics make good ethics easier?.- Changing behaviour of Japanese consumers.- 4. Back in the race: Japan and the Internet.- 5. New directions in Canada's Japanese-owned automobile plants.- 6. Producing and managing hazardous waste in Japan.- 7. Sustainability of farm settlements in Japan after the economic miracle: a case study of Onoji hamlet and Yamanashi prefecture.- 8. New directions in Japanese urban planning: a case study of Nagoya.- 9. the aging of Japanese society: human resource management in transition.- 10. Contemporary party politics in Japan: an old wine in a new bottle?.- II. Searching for new directions: the Canadian challenges and responses.- 11. Breaking into the Japanese Market: Canadian companies and the challenge of doing business in Japan.- 12. Learning with a new media.- 13. History of Japanese language education at UBC, 19561998: challenges and future directions.- 114. Teaching Japanese to a multicultural student population.- 15. Beyond boundaries: Japanese migrant women in North America.