Reference no: EM132454320

Part A:  What social problems demanded attention in the 1980s? How did social welfare policies attempt to deal with an increasingly aged population? What was the place of women and young people in the years after the Bubble burst?  WHY are these called The Lost Decades? 

You should be thinking about demographic issues such as a low-birthrate, a high retirement rate, the rise of "freeters", international economic competition especially in Asia, political activism both within LDP factions, and among "regular people", the rise of conservatism and nationalism.  Of course, you cannot discuss ALL of these issues in your response, but try to consider at least two of them.

Part B: What happened on March 11, 2011? What were the main political responses in the Diet and in public perception of politicians and bureaucrats in general? To what extent to these changes seem to have been caused by the disaster? To what extent do you thinksome of these perceptions might have  already been present, or emerging, before the disaster?  What do you think will be the long-lasting consequences of this event, and the decisions that emerged from it?