After years of stupendous growth the Japanese economy sustained a crippling deceleration and the nation was undermined by developing problems in political, economic and social life. Above all the country's politicians were ineffective in responding, particularly, to the economic melt-down and the political milieu was beset with scandals and setbacks largely unforeseen by the elected rulers.

Thus Jeff Kingston, Professor of History and Director of Asian Studies at Temple University, Japan, begins his discussion of Japan's social and civil changes with an examination of the 'lost decade' in which the nation's collapse was ubiquitous by 1995. Those who believe in kvocho (bad omens) took the devastation of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake which struck Kobe on 7 January 1995, and the release of sarin gas in Tokyo's metro, 20 March 1995, by members of the Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth Sect), as systematic of what was going wrong with Japan, especially when measured against the inept municipal and governmental response to the crises. Nuclear power 'mishaps' and political corruption in the Liberal Democrat party, as well as the machinations of the xakusa (Japan's mafia), all added to the unravelling of Japanese society."....Read Here ...