Editorial: Stability and predictability in Japan are even more important as Australia attempts to counterbalance Chinese power in our region
When Japan's emperor abdicated in April last year, a name for the new era the country was entering was unveiled. The name – Reiwa, or "pursuing harmony" – was the first in the monarchy's long history to be, highlighting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's call for a more self-confident nation.
He returned to this theme in January, calling the Olympic Games, then scheduled for July and August, the "Recovery Olympics". “Our country is no longer the Japan it used to be,” he told Japan's Parliament. “We were able to completely smash ‘the wall of resignation'."until 2021.
These are all problems that have confronted Australia's leaders and Prime Minister Scott Morrison has often . Mr Morrison will no doubt be hoping that, as his Japanese counterpart did, he can end a revolving-door period for the prime minister's office and enjoy a tenure stretching over multiple terms., that kind of stability and predictability in Tokyo becomes even more important.
The remarkable truth about Mr Abe's legacy is that, after eight years, it is not clear what it will amount to beyond his own political longevity. Despite his association with "Abenomics", a policy which sought to revive confidence and growth through state spending,with an ageing and declining population remain entrenched. Mr Abe did not achieve his aim of revising Japan's constitution so that its military could venture out into the world "normally".
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