My Vision No.48
2020.7

Stagnation in Japan Studies Abroad
As Japan’s global economic influence declines, Japan studies are also stagnating abroad.
What is the situation in countries throughout the world, and what lies behind the situation?
What is required in order to maintain and further develop Japan studies around the world?
In this issue of My Vision, we put these questions to scholars in the front rank of Japan studies
around the world.

About this Issue
Keeping the Beacon of Japan Studies Alight– The Decline in the Number of Japan Specialists Damages Japan’s National Interest
Masaki Taniguchi
President, NIRA / Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, The University of Tokyo
Keywords…Decline in number of Japan studies scholars overseas, Japan studies losing ground to China
studies, long-term support for Japan studies scholars overseas, establishment of academic posts, overseas
publication of superior research outcomes, provision of support for the writing of English books andarticles, provision of support for editing of Japan-based international journals

Expert Opinions

Stagnation in Japan Studies Abroad
What is the status of Japan studies in specific countries, and what must be done to maintain Japanstudies abroad?

Making Japan Studies a Foundation for
Better Japan-US relations

Update the Japan Studies Pipeline for the
Next Generation

Christina L. Davis

Christopher W. Hughes

Professor, Department of Government / Director,
Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard
University
Keywords…Stagnation of the Japanese economy,
decline in Japan studies, fewer members of thepolitical elite with knowledge of Japan, increasing
numbers of Japanese students studying overseas

Professor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of
WarwickStrategic Investment in Research – Including
the Private Sector

Disseminating Information From Japan to
the Outside World

Cheol-Hee Park

Bruce L. Batten

Professor, Graduate School of International
Studies, Seoul National University

Resident Director, Inter-University Center forJapanese Language Studies (Emeritus Professor,
J. F. Oberlin University)
Keywords…Global decline in humanities research,
reduction in number of posts for Japan studies
scholars, high level of interest in Japanese
language study, interdisciplinary research themes,
financial support, endowed chairs, lack of ability todisseminate information, overseas needs

Keywords…Rise of China studies, decline ininterest in Japan studies, what Japan can do,importance of Asia, providing opportunities foryoung people

Keywords…Decline in number of study centers,
decline in number of Masters’ students, Japan’s
biased overseas strategy, investment in the Japanstudies pipeline

Make Data Open and Attract Researchers
Franz Waldenberger

Director, German Institute for Japanese Studies(DIJ)
Keywords…<An advanced nation facing new
problems >high level of interest in Japan,transnational perspective, Japan as a case study,
global joint research, establishment of digital
infrastructure, long-term student internships

Interview period：March – April, 2020
Interviewer : Masaki Shibutani(NIRA Research Coordinator, Researcher)This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.48
2020.7
About this Issue

Keeping the Beacon of Japan Studies Alight– The Decline in the Number of Japan Specialists Damages Japan’s National Interest

Masaki Taniguchi
President, NIRA / Professor,
Graduate Schools for Law and
Politics, The University of Tokyo

The number of overseas visitors to Japan reached 31.88
million in 2019, with figures having increased steadily for the
past seven consecutive years. The figure has grown more thansix-fold since 2003. In 2019 again, the number of Japanesecitizens leaving Japan exceeded 20 million for the first time.
While there has since been a rapid decline in the number of
inbound and outbound tourists as a result of immigration
restrictions and restrictions on movement after entering thecountry due to COVID-19, Japan’s attractiveness, whether forbusiness or tourism, remains unimpaired. It will no doubt takesome time until the virus is controlled and tourist numbers
recover, but once we are out of the tunnel, the number of
inbound and outbound tourists will return to the former figures.
The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics should act as aspringboard for this.

Decline in the number of Japan specialists overseas
However, while there has been a long-term general increase in interest in Japan overseas,
there has also been a worsening stagnation in another area. This is a decline in the number ofoverseas scholars conducting research in Japan studies overseas, in particular in social sciencefields such as political science, international relations and economics.
Call to mind, for example, the American and European experts who comment on Japanesepolitics and diplomacy, the Japanese economy, etc. in newspapers and on television. You willrealize that it has been the same roster of experts commenting for many years. This may be a signof the excellence of their insights, but at the same time it is also an indication that there isinsufficient fostering of the next generation.
Professor Christina L. Davis, who this year became the Director of the Program on U.S.Japan Relations at Harvard University, which is one of the major centers for Japan studies in theUS, informs us that at the beginning of the 1990s, there would be at least one professor or graduate
student specializing in Japan studies at top-ranking universities, but today there are almost no
graduate students specializing exclusively in Japan. This fact is linked to a decline in the numberof members of the American political elite with a broad understanding of Japan.
Former US Vice-President Joe Biden, who has been announced as a candidate in the US
presidential elections to be held in the fall, recently published a foreign policy paper in the journal
Foreign Affairs. While China was mentioned 13 times in that paper (albeit in a critical context),
Japan was mentioned only once, together with Australia and South Korea. The low level of interestin Japan that this symbolizes cannot be attributed exclusively to differences in political systemand economic power between Japan and China.
Professor Christopher W. Hughes, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick, tells usthat even in Britain, which has a stronger foundation for Japan studies than Europe or the US,
the number of research centers devoted to Japan is declining, and there has been a conspicuous
decline in the number of students taking Master’s degrees, which represent a bridge to doctorates
and research careers. He provides us with a strong warning regarding the bias of the Japanese
government’s overseas strategy towards the promotion of culture.

This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.48
2020.7The same general trend of Japan studies losing ground to China studies is also observed inSouth Korea. While there are a certain number of students specializing in Japan studies at topranking universities such as Seoul National University, there is almost no interest in regional
universities, and the provision of funding for Japan studies in Asian nations by Japan itself issubordinate to funding for Europe and the US, in the view of Professor Cheol-Hee Park, a former
Director of Seoul National University’s Institute for Japanese Studies.

Providing proactive support in order to maintain the health of Japan studies
There are also approaches that can be taken within the field of Japan studies in Japan itself
in order to support Japan studies overseas. Professor Bruce L. Batten, Resident Director of theInter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies, a Yokohama-based institution thatprovides intensive intermediate and advanced Japanese language education in the main tograduate students from U.S. universities, points out that while there is a great deal of valuable
Japan studies research produced in Japan that would be of considerable interest to overseas
scholars, the fact that it is not published in English or other world languages means that it has
limited influence.
Similarly, Professor Franz Waldenberger, Director of the Tokyo-based German Institute forJapanese Studies (DIJ), which is a member of the Max Weber Foundation – German Humanities
Institutes Abroad, indicates that Japan possesses a huge amount of Japan-related data (various
statistical data, economic data, etc.), but much of the data that is released is published in Japanese,and it is necessary to establish a digital infrastructure.
Among the diverse proposals made by our commenters, I find two points to be of particularimportance if we are to keep the beacon of Japan studies alight. The first of these is the provisionof long-term support for overseas Japan studies researchers. In a word, this would mean theprovision of academic posts. In addition to providing funding for study in Japan and short-term
travel subsidies, it will be necessary to establish endowed chairs and endowed departments toestablish an environment in which graduate students and young researchers are able to produce
high-quality Japan studies research without worries for the future.
The second is to support the dissemination of excellent research outcomes produced in Japan
to countries overseas. It will be necessary to increase the provision of support to enable Japanese
researchers to publish books and articles in English. In the humanities and social sciences,
research interests differ from region to region, and in many cases research themes considered
important in Japan will be regarded in the West as having a narrow focus, looking only at a single“Far Eastern” country. To take the field of contemporary Japanese politics (in which I specialize)
as an example, when writing a book or article in English for an overseas audience, it might benecessary to consider themes that would be of interest to political scientists in the U.S., or tohighlight the specific political methodologies that we are focusing on – an entirely different
mindset to that which we have when writing a book or article in Japanese which might then betranslated into English. If left to the market, US and European publishers would be reluctant topublish English translations even of books that were highly regarded in Japan, because theywould not sell in Japan (having been already published in Japanese). The provision of support for
the editing of Japan-based international academic journals and the publication of Englishlanguage translations of books originally published in Japanese would be an effective strategy
here.
I urge our readers to listen carefully to the sincere voices of the five leading researchers inthis issue, who seek to protect the isolated outposts of Japan studies in countries throughout theworld.
Professor Taniguchi is the President of NIRA, and a Professor in the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, The
University of Tokyo. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from The University of Tokyo, and specializes in the study ofpolitical science and contemporary Japanese political discourse.
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.48
2020.7
Expert Opinions

Making Japan Studies a Foundation for Better
Japan-US Relations
In the United States, Japan Studies is declining as a subject
in tandem with the downturn in the Japanese economy. Considering
the number of students learning Japanese language at Harvard
University, where I work, we hit the peak with about 580 students
in 1992, when the Japanese economy was strong. Since then, there
has been a continuing decline in numbers, and recently the number
has fallen to about 200 students a year. By contrast, we had about
700 students learning Chinese at the peak in 2013, and we still had
about 580 studying in the language this year. The trend is also
visible at the research level for the social sciences: in the early 1990s,
Christina L. Davis
there would almost always be at least one graduate student orProfessor, Department ofprofessor specializing in Japan Studies at the top U.S. universities;
Government / Director,
today, there are very few graduate students conducting research
Program on U.S.-Japan
exclusively focused on Japan.
Relations, Harvard University
My greatest worry with regard to the downturn in Japan
Studies is that policy-makers in the United States will have to rely on a smaller number of people witha broad base of understanding of Japan. Currently, Japan’s position and Japanese interests are still
being communicated to U.S. leaders, but if there was to be a crisis in the U.S.-Japan alliance, a lack ofunderstanding of the historical background to the alliance might result in mistaken decisions. The
general public relies on information from journalists, and if the media doesn’t provide enoughinformation, the public will not have a full understanding of the relevant background. Then public
opinion might be formed on the basis of impressions garnered from fragmentary information. Thereare complex issues in the region, for example the Japan-Korea relationship. Scholars and journalists
can provide context to help people understand how U.S. bases in Okinawa form a strategic pillar that
goes back many decades and the reasons underlying the controversies about the U.S. bases related to
public opinion in Okinawa.
Another excellent way to improve understanding of Japan is for Japanese students to come to
the United States. Japanese students are ambassadors of goodwill for their country, and they can share
their own views about Japanese society and experiences. A large number of Japanese students would
help share the Japanese perspective and create an opportunity to increase interest in Japan. At anotherlevel, we see this role played by guests who come as researchers to universities and think tanks in the
United States. The Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard is one such program, and we arevisited by about 15 Japanese researchers and diplomats every year. We are working to provide ourstudents with opportunities to learn about Japan. We have seminars every week discussing Japanesepolitics, economics, and diplomacy.
It is the sharing of experiences and the ongoing creation of opportunities for mutual learningthat will support Japan Studies and the U.S.-Japan alliance. We should invest our resources and ourefforts in programs that support the nurturing of mutual understanding between Japan and the U.S.
The provision of more scholarships would be effective in halting the decline in Japanese students
visiting America. Japanese companies should also become more aware of the importance of theexperience of study abroad. They must utilize these human resources in order to advance theirglobalization and enhance their international competitiveness. It will be essential for Japanese society
to change its thinking in order to recognize that overseas study is a positive for students’ future careers.
Professor Davis specializes in international relations and trade policy with a focus on Japan and East Asia. In 2020, shebecame the third Director of Harvard University’s Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, a program that supports US-Japan
relations by sponsoring events and hosting visitors from Japanese universities, business, and government institutions.
Professor Ezra Vogel was the first Director of the program. A graduate of Harvard University, Professor Davis took her
present position in 2018 after sixteen years as professor of Politics at Princeton University.
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.48
2020.7
Expert Opinions

Update the Japan Studies Pipeline for the
Next Generation
I think that the situation of Japanese studies in the U.K.
is quite strong relative to a lot of other European countries andto the U.S. The U.K. invested quite early in Japanese studies,really from the late 1960s, and not just in traditional Japanesestudies but more social science-type Japanese studies. And eventhough Japan is not as economically strong as it was, we find a
lot of students are still interested in Japan. Even today, interestin Japan’s popular culture, such as manga and anime, remains
strong. If we look at student numbers, undergraduate numbers,
there are about 500 students that start a B.A. course involving
Christopher W. Hughessome Japan-related element in the U.K. every year, whether as a
Professor / Pro-Vice-Chancellor,major or some kind of minor element, and that number has
University of Warwick
stayed fairly strong. It's quite interesting that despite the rise of
China, Chinese studies has found it harder to gain as muchstrength as Japanese studies in the U.K.
I also think that the shape of Japanese studies is changing. One example is the decline in thenumber of Japan study centers in universities. We've lost some of these centers because they're notvery competitive, but actually, I think that what has happened is that a lot of Japanese studies has
instead gone into disciplinary departments. So you will find Japanese studies not in a center, but rather
among people doing Japanese studies in the law department or the politics department, or in businessstudies or sociology. Japanese studies has come to be treated as a subject for case studies or as one
aspect of comparative studies of multiple nations.
Another more noteworthy change is that for the past four or five years, the number of Masters’
students (and it should be noted that in the U.K. the Masters’ degree forms a kind of bridge fromundergraduate to postgraduate and research roles), has begun to steadily decline. This decline in thenumber of Masters’ students represents a fundamental problem for the pipeline of human resources.
Even if the nature of Japanese studies changes, if the pipeline of human resources remains in place,
Japanese studies will always survive and stay strong. In order to maintain this pipeline and continue
to enhance the academic foundations for the next generation, the current generation of Japan
researchers who have benefitted from the programs in place up to the present will need to continually
update and refresh our programs of study and make them very appealing and competitive. It will also
be important to firmly emphasize the benefits for later employment of honing a specialization in Japanand possessing the skills to analyze democracy in what is a non-Anglo-European society.
At the same time, it may now be necessary to reconsider the biased overseas strategy that has been
implemented by the Japanese government. The Japan House that has been created in London in orderto educate people about Japanese culture has perhaps increased interest in Japan, but it is also
probably very expensive, and does not directly contribute to Japanese studies. It is more important toinvest in the pipeline. Being more strategic, what we must do is think about methods of fostering thenext generation of Japan researchers, for example by supporting the provision of scholarships to
Masters’ and PhD. students.
Professor Hughes specializes in international politics and Japanese politics. He is particularly expert in the areas ofJapan’s foreign and security policies. The deep knowledge of Japan’s policy debates gained from many years of researchallows him to speak frankly in relation to Japanese politics. Professor Hughes graduated from Sheffield University witha Ph.D. in international relations. He took his present position following periods as a Research Associate at Hiroshima
University’s Institute of Peace Science (now The Center for Peace), a Visiting Associate Professor in The University ofTokyo’s Faculty of Law, and a Research Associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He is also currently
an Associate in Research at Harvard University’s Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies.

This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.48
2020.7
Expert Opinions

Strategic Investment in Research– Including the Private Sector
There is no doubt that China studies is flourishing at
Korean universities in comparison to Japan studies. Korea andChina have similar perceptions of history, and against thebackground of China’s increasing global competitiveness, thenation offers Korea economic opportunities and the ability to profit.
There are still a certain number of students enrolling in Japanstudies courses at first-rank universities such as Seoul National
University, but local universities are struggling to secure asufficient number of students. In the background of the decline in
Cheol-Hee Park
interest in Japan studies is, first, the fact that the JapaneseProfessor, Graduate School of
economy is sluggish and the nation has reduced its budget forInternational Studies, Seoul
promoting Japan studies. In addition, the rise of the information
National University
economy and the effect of globalization are increasing theimportance of English, and there is a consequent decline in the necessity to learn Japanese. Japan also
no longer serves as a model of economic development for Korea, which is now an economically advanced
nation. It is a global trend that area studies focusing on a single country are becoming less popular due
to the fact that the benefits of research do not match its cost.
Against this background, Japan should think more seriously about what it can do. Japan has
provided funding to the US in order to halt the decline of Japan studies, but the provision of funding to
Asia is a low priority for the nation. There is also political friction with Korea and China, and the ideaof providing adequate funding to advance Japan studies therefore does not arise. It will be essential for
Japan to foster human resources in the Asian region who understand the nation and are able to explain
it. Surely it would be a good idea to conduct strategic investments in this area – not just by thegovernment, but also the private sector.
I was one of the people involved in the formation of the East Asian Consortium of JapaneseStudies, which is creating a network of Japan specialists between Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China.
The goals of the Consortium are to fuse the humanities and the social sciences in Japan studies and tofoster young scholars. Historically speaking, the areas of specialization of the majority of Japan
specialists in Korea have been humanities subjects such as Japanese language and literature. 90% of
Korean Japan scholars study these subjects. There is little representation of social sciences fields, butbalance and diversity in fields of research is important. A particularly effective and essential initiative
will be to offer opportunities to young people who are seeking to commence their research careers rather
than to senior researchers who have already produced research outcomes. When I was younger, I was
blessed to have numerous opportunities to collaborate in global joint research projects with renowned
Japanese political scientists, but I am concerned that young researchers today have few suchopportunities. How to foster young Japanese specialists and to integrate them into the international
Japan studies network will be our most important policy consideration for the future.
Professor Park specializes in the study of Japanese politics, Japan-Korea relations, and comparative politics. He isparticularly familiar with Japanese and Korean diplomatic and security policy, and is well-known in both nations as aleading Korean Japan specialist. He graduated from Columbia University, taking a Ph.D. in political science, and was astudent of Professor Gerald Curtis. Professor Park took his present position in 2004, following terms in positions
including assistant professor at Japan’s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies and professor at the Graduate
School of International Studies, Seoul National University. From 2012 to 2016, he served as the Director of the Institutefor Japanese Studies at Seoul National University. In 2019, he was appointed Director of Seoul National University’s
Institute of International Affairs. In 2005, he was awarded the first Yasuhiro Nakasone Award in recognition of hisachievements in the area of Japan studies and his contributions to Japan-Korea relations.
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.48
2020.7
Expert Opinions

Disseminating Information From Japanto the Outside World
Japan studies is not the only area of academic research in
decline. Research in the humanities is contracting globally, andtraditional Japan studies, especially in subjects such as
literature and history, is no exception. Area studies andcountry-specific research are also on the wane, even in the caseof Chinese studies. The number of academic posts is decreasing,and related to that there are fewer doctoral students in Japanstudies. At the same time, foreign students retain a high levelof interest in the Japanese language. The Inter-University
Center for Japanese Language Studies (IUC) in Yokohama
Bruce L. Batten
provides training in intermediate and advanced Japanese
Resident Director, Inter-University
language, mostly to graduate students from US universities.
Center for Japanese Language
Although the IUC has fewer Ph.D. students than in the past,
Studies (Emeritus Professor, J. F.
that lack is more than made up by the increasing number of
Oberlin University)
Master’s-level students. The nationalities, needs, and goals of
the students are becoming increasingly diverse, and many students now attend the IUC with theintention of pursuing careers in Japan as translators, finance industry professionals, lawyers, orentrepreneurs. Among students who wish to pursue an academic career, there is a shift away fromnarrow disciplinary research to that spanning several disciplines, and also away from studies focused
exclusively on Japan to those that are comparative or place Japan in its regional or global context.
Funding is necessary to support these changing needs and to maintain interest in Japan. In
addition to scholarship support for international students coming to Japan, funding is also required tomaintain the public and private infrastructure of international exchange that connects Japan and theworld. Financial support is also needed to stem the reduction in university posts for Japan specialists.
At universities in the US and the UK, the system of endowed chairs allows donations from companies
or other entities to be placed in funds used to defray personnel expenses. Japan should be moreproactive in supporting researchers by establishing endowed chairs in Japan studies, whether atuniversities in Japan or overseas. One bright spot in an otherwise bleak picture has been the Top Global
University Project of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
This project promotes the hiring of foreign faculty and the teaching of courses in English at Japanese
universities, thus increasing the number of posts available for non-Japanese researchers with aninterest in Japan.
One of the biggest problems for Japan studies is the lack of dissemination of information
originating in Japan. Japanese scholars produce much excellent and valuable Japan-related researchthat would be of interest to scholars overseas, but it has limited influence because it is not published in
English or other world languages. When preparing or choosing material for dissemination, it isimportant to keep in mind the needs and interests of the target audience; I therefore urge Japanese
researchers, publishers, and other suppliers of information in English to seek the opinions of foreign
specialists in order to ensure that the result will have the impact it deserves. It is important to findways to facilitate the proper understanding of Japan by the rest of the world. If Japan and the Japanese
do not turn their attention outward, the future of the nation is in jeopardy.
Professor Batten specializes in premodern Japanese history and conducts research on frontiers, boundaries, and national
identity and also on environmental history. He graduated from Stanford University with a Ph.D. in history. Professor
Batten taught at Japan’s J. F. Oberlin University for 30 years and began his present job in 2016. Located in Yokohama,
the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies offers intensive instruction in intermediate and advanced
Japanese to foreign students, mainly from North American graduate schools. Many of the Center’s graduates are activein the public and private sectors.

This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

My Vision No.48
2020.7
Expert Opinions

Make Data Open and Attract Researchers
Germany and Japan share common values and common
challenges, and the ties between the two countries as politicaland economic partners have become stronger. Interest in Japanas a subject of research is very strong, in particular in the fieldof economics, which is my own area of specialization. As anadvanced nation facing new problems, how Japan responds tosocioeconomic problems including population change, deflation
and a national deficit is attracting profound interest, includingfrom a political perspective.
Franz Waldenberger
Even today in Germany, budgets exist for area studies, andDirector, German Institute forresearch is being actively conducted. However, Japanese studies
Japanese Studies (DIJ)
have taken on a different form from previous area studies.
Rather than Japan itself being the sole focus of study, thecountry is treated as a case study, and research is conducted including an Asia-focusedtransnational perspective. Even the form of institutions is changing, with Japan studies centers
being integrated into Asia-focused departments. It is no longer advantageous to one’s career tospecialize in Japan alone. Rather, examples in which German and Japanese specialists in such
subjects as political science or economics come together to conduct joint research are increasing.
The establishment of a digital infrastructure is an increasingly important factor in theimplementation of global joint research. There is a huge amount of Japan-related data – a rangeof statistical data, economic data, etc. – but the majority is published only in Japanese. Translatingthese data into English will expand the scope of research. Japanese data should be made open andaccessible throughout the world.
In addition, as joint research becomes the mainstream, cultural exchange is increasing inimportance as never before. What if we used long-term student internships between countries inorder to train young people as scholars? It is quite normal for foreign-affiliated Japanesecompanies to take in interns for three to six months, and the utilization of internship systems thatoffer academic credits is increasing in European universities. Internships are also an effective
method for companies to secure global human resources. In Japan, a university education is thesole passport to employment, and the nation’s unique system of en masse employment (ikkatsusaiyou) prevents students from studying overseas or advancing to graduate school. If it waspossible for specialists to find employment at any time, we could no doubt invigorate exchanges
between young researchers in Germany and Japan.
Professor Waldenberger specializes in the study of the Japanese economy and corporate governance, conducting
comparative research on Japanese and German economic and financial systems and corporate governance. He is alsointerested in regional revitalization, and is actively involved in projects with regional governments. He holds a Ph.D. ineconomics from the University of Cologne. He became Professor for Japanese Economy at the Ludwig Maximilian
University of Munich in 1997, following periods as a researcher at the German Monopoly Commission and the German
Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ). Professor Waldenberger has held his present position with the DIJ since taking aleave of absence from his position in Munich in 2014.

This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation presented here.
Translated by Michael Faul.
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement