The Institute of Management and Leadership Development (IMLD) organised a webinar titled “Japan Searching for Way Forward” on 27 July 2021 via Zoom and Facebook Live. It featured Prof Masahiro Fukushima, Professor Emeritus of International Political Economy at Tokai University, Japan.

The webinar, which saw more than 120 participants, focused on the Cornwall G-7 summit communique, Abenomics and Suganomics. In the webinar, Prof Masahiro spoke about the framework of G-7 summit communique, Abe’s administration, economic policy goals and related topics.

Prof Masahiro said, “The participants of the Cornwall G-7 summit are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. The summit brought the leaders together to discuss the post-pandemic recovery economic resilience and values, climate change, foreign policy and open society. The challenges faced by Japan on the global stage are G-7 touting unity on Taiwan, Covid-19 and climate change as well as G-7 summit communique appealing to democratic values in a clear reference to China.”

He spoke about Abe’s administration and explained that Abe as a unipolar political power. He said, “He has strong political influence in Japan. The first Abe administration is between 2006 and 2007 while the second Abe administration is from 2012 until 2020. During the second administration, Abe prioritised the economic revitalization of Japan. “Abenomics” policy is to lift Japan out of deflation and to maintain a stable cabinet support rate. Due to his strategy, Japan’s high stock prices increased, there were improvements in corporate earnings and job opportunities were created.”

“Suga’s administration should properly present a long-term outlook for the nation,” said Prof Masahiro as he explained Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s administration and policy measures.

Prof Masahiro Fukushima was a visiting professor of Faculty of Management at Multimedia University (MMU) and a visiting scholar of Centre for Japan Studies, Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS Malaysia) from 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000. His research interests include Malaysia’s political and economic regime, US-Japan relations, political and economic regime, international political economy (IPE), international politics, and international relations. He has published a number of books and papers on issues related to these fields.