The DPJ's rise to power is a historic opportunity for Japan to revise the constitution, loosen the bureaucracy's grip on policymaking, redistribute income, and improve relations with the rest of Asia. But the road will be long and tortuous.

Carolyn M. Leddy says, "Washington and Tokyo have to focus on protecting their citizens from harm today."

CFR's Japan expert Sheila Smith says U.S.-Japan relations remain important for both governments, but the issue of realigning U.S. military forces in Japan will continue to be a difficult challenge.

Sheila A. Smith argues that Japan's foreign policy stance under the new Democratic Party of Japan leadership now tops the list of concerns in the United States and elsewhere.

Sheila A. Smith says that arguments portraying the new, leading Democratic Party of Japan as inexperienced are overstatements.

Electoral politics in Japan have been upended with the defeat of the long-governing Liberal Democratic Party. CFR's Sheila Smith says the rise of the Democratic Party of Japan could test the U.S.-Japan alliance and advises U.S. policymakers to focus on economic and energy-related cooperation.

Mary Kissel writes that the reform agenda of the opposition DPJ party and its leader, Yukio Hatoyama, should not be carried out at the expense of a strong alliance with the United States.

Tobias Harris explains how Ichirio Ozawa, former Democratic Party of Japan president, is behind the rise of the recently victorious opposition party.

Listen to Senior Fellow for Japan Studies Sheila Smith give a preview of the parliamentary election to take place in Japan on August 30, and discuss its potential outcomes for both Japan and the United States.

Sheila Smith previews Japan's August 30th parliamentary election and the prospect of an historical win by the opposition DPJ.

Opposition victory in Japan's 2009 parliamentary election served as a watershed moment in the country's electoral politics. Analysts say political change in Tokyo could result in a possible shift in its close relationship with the United States, especially in security matters.

Yukio Hatoyama, head of the victorious Democratic Party of Japan, outlines his party's philosophy of tempering the pitfalls of market capitalism with the French concept of fraternity, and of moving toward regional integration and collective security in Asia.

A compilation of resources on the impact of the global financial crisis on Japan.

David S. Law discusses the conservative nature of the Supreme Court of Japan.

Japan should not apologize for its past aggression by emulating the contrition that Germany has displayed since the mid-1960s because it would risk a nationalist backlash.

CFR International Affairs Fellow Brian P. Klein says that China's stimulus will not have a significant short-term impact on Japan's ailing economy.

Todd Crowell asks, why does Japan obsess over North Korean kidnappings?

From the March/April 2009 issue of Foreign Affairs: The current U.S. financial crisis is not like Japan's "lost decade" of the 1990s.