FIVE DECADES OF CONSTITUTIONALISM IN JAPANESE SOCIETY, edited by Yoshio Higuchi. University of Tokyo Press, 2001, 368 pp., 8,000 yen.

A major stumbling block for Japan on its road to becoming a more influential member of the global community has been a profound absence of voice. Japanese politicians, commentators, academics and business leaders alike have largely failed to articulate for international consumption coherent self-assessments of their society.

To be sure, there is no shortage of domestic analysis and debate by, for and among the Japanese. It would be difficult indeed to point to a nation with a more active publishing industry. How then can we account for the almost deafening silence of these highly literate people on the global stage?

Perhaps it is the hyperactive nature of the domestic marketplace of ideas that leaves little room for debate at the international level. A more likely explanation is a reluctance to write in foreign languages, leaving many potential contributions lost to the language barrier.