Four major economic areas which include (1) the labor market, (2) the macro/monetary economy, (3) international trade, and (4) the environment of contemporary Japan will be the focus of this class. Labor market topics will include the analysis of the lifetime employment system and seniority-based wage system. Topics on the macro/monetary economy will be concerned with the advent of the bubble economy in the 1980s and its aftermath to the present. International trade will cover significant changes in the industrial and trade structures of the past, outward/inward FDI, and the economic integration among Asian economies. Environmental issues will address environmental laws and policies using case studies of the Home Appliance Recycling Law, Unit-based Pricing policy and others. Assignments include readings on a weekly basis.