This comprehensive study of Japanese history since the 1980s has been expanded and updated to include considered analysis of the cataclysmic earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 as well as their aftermath. The author includes an assessment of the environmental impact of the Fukushima nuclear power station meltdowns and examines its political consequences, which included the ousting of prime minister Naoto Kan by pro–nuclear advocates.With an energy policy in flux and a massive reconstruction project just beginning in a time of global economic downturn, this is a critical moment in Japanese history. The author sets the nation's current challenges in the context of events since the 1980s, when rampant speculation created an economic bubble that, when it burst, plunged the country into prolonged stagnation as housing and share prices imploded and public debt surged. With penetrating analysis of key issues that have loomed large in Japan since the end of the Cold War, including its immigration policies, aging society, and troubled alignment with US interests in the Pacific, this volume remains a superb guide to recent events in Japan, written by one of the foremost authorities on the history and politics of the region.