Japan is on the cusp of another leadership transition, and while politicians campaign for the Lower House election on December 16, larger questions about Japan's future permeate the global media. The tone outside of Japan is pessimistic, and many are dismissive of this nation's future prospects. Should we reconcile ourselves to Japan's inevitable decline, or are there other ways of considering Japan's current challenges? Sheila A. Smith, senior fellow for Japan studies, has initiated a broad conversation on CFR's Asia Unbound blog in which leading experts analyze Japan's economy, politics, and society and give their assessment of Japan's future.

The challenges that confront the U.S.-Japan relationship today are many, and the opportunities to devise new ways of cooperating ample. Yet we still know too little about how to adapt our alliance to the changing demands within Japan for greater accountability and transparency in governance. The March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake has confounded the governance pressures on Japan's new government, and expanded our bilateral alliance agenda. The confusion and disconnect between the two governments during the early months of Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) rule suggest the need for a much better understanding of the domestic pressures on Japan's new government for change in alliance policy. The Japan studies program is excited to announce a new study to analyze domestic political change in Japan and its effect on the U.S.-Japan alliance.

This project is made possible by grants from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership and the U.S.-Japan Foundation.

The Roundtable Series on Japan is an ongoing series that provides a forum for leading U.S. and Japanese experts to analyze Japan's domestic and foreign policy. Of particular interest is the analysis of U.S.-Japan policy cooperation in a fluid Asia-Pacific region.

This series is made possible in part by the generosity of the following corporate and foundation sponsors: US-Japan Foundation, Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Mitsubishi International Corporation, Sony Corporation of America, Toyota Motor North America, and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

The CFR Northeast Asia Security Architecture project began in 2007 as a track-two dialogue among Japanese, South Korean, Chinese and U.S. experts on Northeast Asian regionalism. Workshops were held across the region, first in Tokyo, then in Washington, DC, Seoul, and Beijing. Our expert team engaged important foreign policymakers in each government on the prospects for success in the Six Party Talks, as well as on the question of how best to organize an agenda for security cooperation in Northeast Asia.

The Japan studies program is excited to announce a new project initiative, China and India as Emerging Powers: Challenge or Opportunity for the United States and Japan? This project will examine the rise of China and India in global affairs and study the economic, security, and environmental implications of global governance. Particular focus will be given to the implications for the United States and for Japanese policymaking. A core group of experts will be invited to a planning workshop in early 2009 to define policy discussions that will be held in the second and third years of the project. Envisaged policy discussion topics include: the global consequences of Chinese and Indian economic growth and the effect of the countries' simultaneous rise on global economic management; how the countries' growth will shape their global and regional military influence; the international coordination needed to manage competition for energy resources and to ameliorate the environmental consequences of global warming; and the types of influence the world might expect to see emanate from these two new globalizing power centers.