From the end of the 1980s the Japanese economy has no longer been achieving the good results that it had enjoyed up to that point. We must ask whether this situation will continue, whether the economy will before long recover, or whether this situation is the start of a collapse. In April 1997, I received an invitation from Professor Craig Freedman of Macquarie University to speak at a conference to be held in Sydney in August 1998, on the current situation in Japan, and its future prospects. Professor Freedman’s letter also expressed the hope that my analysis and predictions could be developed along the lines of the main points made in my book (WHJS) (1982). I agreed to accept his invitation. The remainder of this chapter is a fuller version of the presentation I gave at that conference.
