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PacNet #7 – Japan 2000: The Dangers of Demonization

I recently came across a poster on campus for a program called “Japan 2000.” It turned out to be for a homestay program in Hakodate, but for a moment I was transported back to 1991. In October of 1990, the CIA sponsored a small weekend conference on the growing Japanese economic threat at the Rochester Institute of Technology. In June 1991, the rapporteur’s draft report, “Japan 2000: DEFCON 1,” mysteriously leaked to the press. Though it was never published, copies circulated throughout the policy and academic communities.