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After five decades of Cold War, Japan is assuming a new kind of Superpower role in the multipower configuration that is replacing the former bi-polar world, argue the editors of this book. They analyze Japan's effort to rise to superpower status by concentrating on economic, trade and financial factors, rather than on the military might that conferred great power status in the past. Leading scholars from Japan, Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the United States point out that while Japan has been prodded to foresake its insular preoccupation, it has yet to assume a global role. The authors explore Japan's potential for that role and define its present "economic superpower" status. In a concluding chapter, Paul Kennedy, author of "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers", suggests that Japan is best suited to fit into the new profile of 21st-century power. Relating their analyses to the recent elections in Japan, the authors pose what they see as the key issue for the future: until the Japanese themselves produce a political leadership that can articulate a new vision of the country's global role, the world will remain puzzled - even suspicious - about what sort of power 21st-century Japan will turn out to be.