Japan, like so many developed democracies, is undergoing a slow-burn crisis of national identity. The far-right has been on the rise for years. Anti-immigrant sentiment is surging. The population crisis has created an inverted demographic triangle that keeps the elderly working indefinitely while simultaneously disenfranchising the young. Taken together, one can’t help but hear a ghostly refrain: What is Japan, amid all of this? What was it once, and what could it be, in the future? These