Editor's Note: Sheila Smith is a Senior Fellow for Japan Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. This is her Expert Brief.

By Sheila Smith, CFR.org

Japan's unprecedented "triple disaster" on March 11, 2011–a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor meltdowns–presented the government with its largest crisis since the end of World War II. The quake resulted in more than 19,000 dead or missing and devastation of the coastal communities of the Tohoku region. More than 340,000 Japanese have been displaced from their homes, and many will not return. Rebuilding Tohoku will cost an estimated $238 billion and will take a decade or longer.

The repercussions were felt worldwide. Global supply chains were disrupted, currency and stock markets were shaken, and the meltdowns of reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant raised the specter of a man-made disaster of historic proportions. Nations around the world undertook a reassessment of nuclear power, with safety a central consideration.

Japan's ability to rebound from last year's disasters will have major consequences beyond its borders. A stronger Japan bolsters the global economy. As the third-largest economy, Japan is a major driver of growth and investment. Geopolitically, Japan's recovery seems even more important as the region adjusts to the increasing influence of a rising China. FULL POST

By Fareed Zakaria, CNN

Wherever you are in the world, you've probably used or coveted some Japanese product - a Honda four-wheeler; a Toyota Prius, a Sony, a Panasonic TV, a Nikon camera. Since the 1950s, Japan's exports have flooded the world and fueled an economic miracle at home, making that country one of the wealthiest in the world. Well, this week marks a turning point - one of the world's great export engines has run out of gas.

What in the world is going on?

For the first time in 31 years, Japan has recorded a trade deficit. In simple terms, that means Japan imported more than it exported last year. Now this is not that unusual for some rich countries: the U.S. has had a trade deficit since 1975, and yet we've grown. But the U.S. economy is not built on exports. Japan's economic rise on the other hand, has been almost entirely powered by exports.

So what has changed in Japan? FULL POST

Half a million Japanese people are praying for an economically prosperous 2012.

"Does North America face a Japan-style era of high unemployment and slow growth?"

That was the question put to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers at the recent Munk Debates.  Krugman argued yes, America is in for a Japan-style era of slow growth.  Summers argued no.

I thought this was a fascinating debate. You can watch the full debate here. I’ve pulled out parts of the discussion below, and posted some video excerpts on my Facebook page.

Read below and then let me know what side you come down on. FULL POST

Editor's Note: Joseph S. Nye, Jr. is Dean Emeritus of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.  He served as chairman of the National Intelligence Council in 1993-94 and was assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs in the Clinton Administration.

By Joseph Nye, Power & Policy

I recently visited Japan and met with Prime Minister Noda, Foreign Minister Genba, and several Diet members, as well as business people and members of the press. The good news is that I came away encouraged. During my last visit, a year ago, I came away worried that Japan was turning inward and might not face up to the problems of slow growth. Now that may be changing.

The tragedy of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in March may have provided a stimulus for change. Many Americans admired the dignity and calmness with which the Japanese public dealt with the tragedy, and that increased Japan’s attractiveness or soft power. But there was worry about the economic effects. Now the latest figures show that Japan’s economy grew 1.5% in the third quarter, (an annualized rate of 6%.)  This represents the first expansion of the economy in four quarters. FULL POST

Editor's Note: Mike Mochizuki is Associate Dean, Professor, and Sigur Chair at George Washington University specializing in U.S.-Japan relations; Michael O'Hanlon is senior fellow at Brookings and author of The Wounded Giant: America's Armed Forces in an Age of Austerity. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mike Mochizuki and Michael O'Hanlon.

By Mike Mochizuki and Michael O'Hanlon – Special to CNN

On his inaugural trip to Asia as secretary of defense, Leon Panetta offered reassuring words throughout the region that America’s presence in the Western Pacific will not decline as a result of the ongoing military budget reduction process in the United States.

The current U.S. strength of almost 30,000 soldiers in South Korea, closer to 40,000 in Japan, and several thousand more sailors and Marines typically aboard ships patrolling the area’s huge waters will remain as is, according to the Pentagon’s new leader. At a time when “sequestration” threatens to cut up to one trillion dollars from the Pentagon’s previous ten-year spending plan, such words of resolve and continuity are understandable, and mostly right on.

But they are not completely correct. Mr. Panetta should seek to honor their spirit rather than their letter in the crucial months ahead. FULL POST

By Samantha Stainburn, GlobalPost

Move over, Madame Tussauds. A Japanese company called Real-F has developed a technique for creating a 3-D photocopy of a person’s face, PC World reports.

Real-F

The company takes several photos from different angles, then prints the image on vinyl chloride resin stretched over a mold that matches the contours of the face, Techcrunch reports.

The masks are particularly lifelike because the technology “makes it possible to duplicate pores, eye's blood vessels and iris exactly the same as the originals,” Real-F says on its website.

“Realface” masks cost between $3,920 to $5,875 for the first mask, and $780 to $1,960 for additional copies, PC World reports.

The company also offers the “Realhead,” the 3-D mask on a bust.

In his acceptance as elected leader of the ruling Democratic Party, Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda likened his nation's political plight as a snowball falling fast downhill.

"Running Japan's government is like pushing a giant snowball up a snowy, slippery hill," he said. "In times like this, we can't say, 'I don't like this person,' or 'I don't like that person.' The snowball will slide down." FULL POST

By Carl Williott, HLN Producer

The Internet is undeniably making the world smaller.

And while this is a great thing for friends trying to stay in touch years after moving away from each other, there’s a certain sect of people who must suffer while the rest of us thrive.

I’m talking, of course, about American celebrities who years ago starred in bizarre, unintentionally hilarious commercials in Japan (why Japan is the main purveyor of this advertising insanity, I have no idea), only to have the Internet unearth them for the whole planet to see.

Back in the mid-'80s or mid-'90s, the stars in question probably thought (while deviously twirling a thin mustache), “By golly, I can get my paws on a nice lump sum by shilling some Japanese libation over yonder, and people stateside will be none the wiser, see!” FULL POST

Editor's Note: Yuriko Koike is Japan’s former Minister of Defense and National Security Adviser. She is Chairman of the Executive Council of the Liberal Democratic Party. For more from Yuriko Koike, visit Project Syndicate or follow it on Facebook and Twitter.

By Yuriko Koike

July will mark two milestones in America’s sometimes-tortured relations with Asia. One is the beginning of the end of the nearly decade-long struggle in Afghanistan - the longest war in United States history - as President Barack Obama announces the first troop withdrawals.

The other is the 40th anniversary of Henry Kissinger’s secret mission to Beijing, a turning point in the Cold War and the first step on China’s road to modernization - but at the time a huge shock to Asia, particularly Japan.

The looming Afghan withdrawal recalls, at least for some Asians, a third, even more traumatic event: America’s chaotic exit from Saigon in April 1975. Back then, that debacle seemed to presage a broader U.S. withdrawal from Asia, with a war-weary American public seeking the supposed comforts of isolationism.

FULL POST