Deck 18: Shock, Disaster, and the End of the Hesei Era: Beyond the Lost Decades

Question 1

Which of the following did NOT take place during the Lehman Shock?

A) Exports declined
B) Unemployment increased
C) Interest rates decreased
D) Japan's economy contracted

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The letter written by a junior high school student in Kyushu reflected which broadly held sentiment in the Japanese populace in 2009?

A) That companies should not abandon their employees
B) That the US was to blame for Japan's economic woes
C) That young people were bearing the brunt of the Lehman Shock
D) That the government should reverse its austerity measures.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The 2009 election results revealed that Japan's new single-member parliamentary constituencies...

A) Made it harder for smaller parties to win seats
B) Inevitably favored the LDP
C) Could turn small swings of votes into large changes in the Diet
D) Tended to produce coalition governments

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following was NOT an LDP successor to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in the period 2006-2008?

A) Kan Naoto
B) Aso Taro
C) Fukuda Yasuo
D) Abe Shinzo

Question 5

Which of the following politicians was NOT a DPJ Prime Minister of Japan?

A) Kan Naoto
B) Hatoyama Yukio
C) Ozawa Ichiro
D) Noda Yoshihiko

Question 6

The widespread sense of social malaise in late 2000s Japan was NOT motivated by which of the following factors?

A) Declining birth-rates
B) The lack of long- term work opportunities
C) Economic stagnation
D) Large-scale immigration

Question 7

Which of the following social trends did not take place in Japan between 1970 and 2012?

A) Declining life expectancy
B) Smaller families
C) Declining rates of marriage
D) All of these trends took place

Question 8

What significant change occurred in the female workforce in Japan in the 2000s?

A) More women were supporting their families alone
B) More women were becoming senior managers
C) Women were on average being paid equally to men
D) Women were sent for training abroad in greater numbers

Question 9

Compared to Europe during the financial crisis, Japan...

A) Had relatively high levels of consumer confidence
B) Recovered more swiftly.
C) Had relatively lower levels of unemployment
D) Had lower public debt.

Question 10

How long did it take TEPCO to achieve 'cold shutdown' status at the Fukushima nuclear plant?

A) One month
B) Three months
C) Six months
D) Nine months

Question 11

What was NOT true of Emperor Akihito's address in 2011?

A) It was the first imperial broadcast in over sixty years
B) It took place in response to the March 11th earthquake
C) Its call for endurance lightly echoed his father's surrender speech in 1945
D) It was the first imperial speech to ever mention Japan's Self Defense Forces

Question 12

Which of the following groups were NOT members of Japan's 'nuclear village'?

A) Bureaucrats
B) Private nuclear-energy corporations
C) National and local politicians
D) Farmers

Question 13

Why did the DPJ in a compromise with the LDP agree to double the consumption tax in 2011/2012?

A) To pay off the national debt which expanded during the Lehman Shock
B) To provide funds for new nuclear power stations
C) To cover the costs of Japan's recovery from 3/11 without increasing government debt
D) To expand investment in infrastructure

Question 14

Who was the LDP's coalition partner after the 2012 elections?

A) The Clean Government Party
B) The Japan Restoration Party
C) The DPJ
D) The LDP did not rule with a coalition partner after the 2012 election

Question 15

Abe Shinzo's style of politicking is best described as...

A) Charismatic and ultranationalist
B) Populist
C) Pragmatic, nationalistic and conservative
D) Low key and reticent

Question 16

The agenda of the Nippon Kaigi (Japan Council) includes:

A) Opposing apologies for Japan's role in World War II
B) Denying the extent of the Nanjing Massacre
C) Denying that the government was responsible for the 'comfort women' system
D) All of the above

Question 17

When did Japan and South Korea came to what the two governments called a 'final' agreement on the comfort women issue?

A) 1965
B) 1991
C) 2015
D) None such agreement was reached

Question 18

Which of the following was not one of the 'arrows' of Abenomics?

A) Large-scale foreign investment
B) Negative interest rates
C) Spending on infrastructure
D) Neoliberal reforms to the economy

Question 19

What effect did Donald Trump's steel tariffs have on the Japanese economy?

A) They dramatically increased unemployment
B) They had little effect, as Japan is no longer a major exporter of steel to the US
C) They undermined Japan's exports of vehicles to the US
D) They caused the collapse of Abe Shinzo's government

Question 20

Which of the following was a sharply reduced part of Japan's long-term energy plan of 2018?

A) Natural gas
B) Renewable energy
C) Nuclear power
D) Oil

Question 21

What is notable about the new Japanese era name?

A) It is derived from ancient Chinese literature
B) It was selected by a public poll
C) It was suggested by the new emperor
D) It is derived from Japanese classical poetry