** Feel free to circulate this invitation to friends or colleagues.
*
* *

*Extreme Japan: How the country will both soar and
sink*

*Date:* Thursday, March 8, 2012 *Time:* 7:00p.m.
(Talk will start at
7:30p.m.) *Venue:*
Temple University, Japan Campus,Mita 502 & 503
(access:
http://www.tuj.ac.jp/maps/tokyo.html ack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1013842329&msgid=1684614&act=3O
1N&c=397830&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tuj.ac.jp%2Fma
ps%2Ftokyo.html>
)
*Speaker: *
Kenneth Cukier
*Moderator:*
Robert Dujarric
*Admission:* Free (Open to general public) *RSVP:* icas@tuj.ac.jp **If you RSVP you are automatically registered. If possible, we ask you to RSVP but we always welcome participants even you do not RSVP.*

*Outline*

Is Japan poised for a resurgence, or is the country entering a long decline? On one hand, industry is hollowing out, public finances are a mess, politics is in disarray and the unfavorable demographics are irreversible. Japan's economy flourished in the 20th century but many forces, notably China, challenge it in the 21st. On the other hand, Japan has one of the strongest engineering cultures and work ethics in the world, producing things that no one else can. It can afford to have such clownish politics and sovereign debt because it has such a solid societal structure and private wealth. And 3/11 has subtly unleashed creative forces that are preparing to blossom. Kenneth Cukier argues that between these extremes a third way is
likely: the country will bifurcate into pockets of outperformance amid a general morass of decrepitude. A handful of companies, sectors and locations will be extraordinarily successful globally, in an environment of national deterioration. After nearly five years as a foreign correspondent, Kenn returns to London in March.
He will use the talk as a chance to reflect on the themes, to spur a broader conversation on Japan's future that sadly will take place without him.

*Speaker *

Kenneth Cukier was the Japan business and finance correspondent for The Economist from 2007 to March 2012, when he returned to London to become the paper's first Data Editor, responsible for data-intensive journalism and advanced infographics. Prior to Japan, he was the paper's global technology correspondent in London. Earlier he was the technology editor of the Wall Street Journal Asia in Hong Kong, and worked at The International Herald Tribune in Paris. In 2002-04 Mr.Cukier was a research fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, working on the Internet and international relations. Additionally, Mr. Cukier serves on the board of directors of International Bridges to Justice, a Geneva-based NGO promoting legal rights in developing countries.

------------------------------

*Robert Dujarric*
Director* *
*Kyle Cleveland*
Associate Director
*Eriko Kawaguchi*
Coordinator

Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies
Temple University, Japan Campus
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