Stockholm Seminar on Japan, February 18

Japan is attempting to build a new economy. It goes by various names, such as 'Society 5.0', 'sustainable capitalism', and 'new form of capitalism'. It is to be constructed through digital and green transformation, and a 'virtuous cycle of growth and distribution'. The effort faces strong headwinds, including demographic decline and ageing, Japan's external energy dependence and geopolitical turbulence, and the legacies of Japan's 'lost decades'. Nonetheless, since 2015 a path has been identified that steers between Big Tech market oligopoly on the one hand, and an overbearing state on the other. For others facing the same post-neoliberal, sustainability transformation challenges as Japan, this public-private coordinated building effort is noteworthy. The presentation is based on a book with the same title, published by Oxford University Press, 2024.

Hugh Whittaker is Professor in the Economy and Business of Japan at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, Oxford University. His research encompasses Japanese and comparative corporate governance, innovation management, employment, entrepreneurship and economic development. A recent co-authored book is Compressed Development: Time and Timing in Economic and Social Development (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Moderator: Dr. Patrik Ström, Director, European Institute of Japanese Studies, Stockholm School of Economics

• Date and Time: Tuesday, February 18, 15:00-16:30
• Language: English
• Location: Room A133 (The Schumpeter Room), Stockholm School of Economics, Sveavägen 65
• Sign up here

The Japan seminar series is jointly organized by the European Institute of Japanese Studies at Stockholm School of Economics, the Asia Programme at The Swedish Institute of International Affairs, the Department of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies at Stockholm University and the Swedish Defence University. It features monthly seminars on Japanese economy, politics and society.

Welcome!