Study Trip to Tokyo STUDENT AND GRADUATE ACHIEVEMENTS On 17-20 December 2023, some of our PhD, MPP and MPM students, joined by some MBA students, embarked on a three-day study trip to Tokyo. Led by Professors Donald Low and Alex Jingwei He, the theme of the study trip was "What’s so bad about Japani cation? Lessons from Japan’s Lost Decade". The trip allowed students to examine Japan’s lost decades, how it survived nearly two decades of economic stagnation, and the health and social policy reforms introduced in that period. They also had the opportunity to discuss lessons for contemporary China, which is grappling with similar problems summarised by the 4Ds: excessive debt, de ation, decline of asset values, and aging demographics. On the rst morning, the students visited Mitsubishi Corporation for a discussion on energy and infrastructure nancing in emerging markets, with a view to gaining insights into sustainable infrastructure nancing, which is something vital in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In the afternoon, students visited the Graduate School of Public Policy at Tokyo University to discuss Japan’s public sector, nancial, and social security reforms in the 2000s. Prof. Naomi Aoki introduced the administrative reforms undertaken by the Japanese government from the late 1990s to 2020; Prof. Yasishi Iwamoto gave a talk on the social security system under low growth, and Prof. Takahiro Hattori spoke on nancial market and institutions in Japan. Prof. Low also provided historical insights into Japan’s banking system in the 1950s-70s and Japan’s lost decades and highlighted parallels with the nancial situation in China today. The following day, students visited Macquarie Group Limited to study Japan’s equity market that outperformed in 2023 and prospects in 2024, with a talk delivered by the Head of Japan’s Equity Research and Managing Director of Macquarie Group, Mr. Damian Thong. In the afternoon, at the Tokyo Foundation for Policy 37
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