Reflecting on the depth of the experience with crises, this innovative book demonstrates what the world can learn from insights into crises from the Japanese perspective. Taking an institutionalist approach with a strong historical precedent, leading scholars in the social sciences and law explore how better to deal with both foreseeable and unforeseen crises. Illustrating their multifaceted and complex nature, the book examines a broad range of crises throughout history, including economic, fiscal and political crises; force majeure events such as pandemics and natural disasters; and military conflicts and acts of war. Chapters consider how various actors anticipate and deal with these crises, looking closely at their different perceptions of crisis and varying degrees of urgency. Analyzing institutional design and response and the impact of psychological factors on disaster preparedness, the book considers how the decision-making capabilities of individuals can be enhanced to improve institutional capacity. Transdisciplinary with an international reach, this topical book will prove invaluable to students and scholars across the social sciences, particularly those interested in Asian politics and environmental policy, disaster preparedness, and institutional design. It also provides guidance for policymakers working in civil code reform.

Kakuei Tanaka was the most powerful politician in Japan for nearly two decades, and his followers have dominated Japanese politics for most of the country's recent history. This account of the life and times of Tanaka explores the public profile and private power-broking of a controversial and powerful politician, opening up in the process the intimate political history of modern Japan.

It's 1880-The crops have failed and his family is starving, so fourteen year-old Brody slips out into the early morning darkness, desperate to find food in the foothills of the Devil's Backbone. A terrible accident, a rescue by a delusional ex-slave, and a journey to find his family has Brody growing into a man... and also wanted for murder. "Temporarily blinded. Lost on a mountain. Wanted for murder. Brody is the ideal protagonist for the most reluctant of readers. With the perfect blend of history, suspense, and adventure, James Babb weaves a tale that artistically grabs the reader from the start, holds his attention until the end, then sends him running to the nearest library begging for a sequel." -Karen Wells, library media specialist and National Board Certified Teacher and current president of the Arkansas Association of Instructional Media, a STAR Discovery Educator, and a member of Discovery Education's Leadership Council. "A riveting tale of adventure with a cast of characters as tough and timeless as the rifles we make."-Anthony Imperato, President of Henry Repeating Arms "James Babb has crafted the extraordinary. Please, please do yourself a favor and read this."-Robert Bacon, The Perfect Write. "The Devil's Backbone is a humble adventure into the hard lives of those who lived in the shadow of a war that had long since ended... I couldn't put this book down, James Babb wrote a novel that is engaging. The hunger, the cold, and the friendship, it's hard not to get drawn into this story.-Mike Kendra, CivilWarTalk.com

A populist politician from a very humble background, Kakuei Tanaka is indisputably the most important Japanese politician of the late twentieth century.

Tanaka the new title in the Profiles in Power series, is not a biography, though inevitably it contains much biographical material, it instead analyzes the major features, achievements and failures of Tanaka's career.