In the late 1990s, Japan was facing a time of great change. The economic, political and social model that defined Japan and its place in the world for the last half century was being challenged by many forces: the shift toward a service economy, the rise of new economic and political competitors in Asia, rapid technological change, a political system resistant to change in a turbulent world, potential environmental crises and an evolving relationship with the United States. The Nakamae International Economic Research (NIER), the first independent private economic research institute in Japan, joined with Outsights to engage and help prepare stakeholders prepare for different futures. 

Japan from the outside-in 

In an attempt to get as wide and diverse a view as possible, Outsights and NIER put together a team from Japan, the USA and Europe which covered a variety of disciplines from economics to politics to ecology to engineering to sociology. They covered a wide range of ages from well over 60 to a number of younger people in their twenties. 

Working as a team they interviewed over 100 perceptive observers and thinkers to gain their insights and then carefully researched the critical drivers of change that might reshape the Japanese future. In a series of workshops, the core team and many outside participants from Japan and around the world, building on the foundation of thorough research, developed a deeper understanding of these drivers of change for Japan. 

Determining the real challenges 

That insight led to three Scenarios for Japan's future built around the four key challenges: the aging of its population, reforming its economic and political system, managing local and global ecological events, and forging a new set of geopolitical relationships in the post cold war world. The Scenarios featured in The Economist and Nikkei.