午夜剧场

Driven by a desire to utilize my experience working at the EU headquarters (European Commission), I have previously published two books on the EU, focusing on the Eurozone economy and the European Central Bank. I had decided long ago that the theme of my third book would be Germany, the leader of the EU, and I had been writing it bit by bit. In October 2018, while I was writing, Chancellor Merkel announced that she would retire from politics in 2021. Feeling that this would be a historical turning point for the EU, I began revising the structure of the manuscript. Chancellor Merkel's term lasted 16 years, starting in 2005. The history of the single currency, the Euro, which was born in 1999, almost overlaps with Chancellor Merkel's history. While the history of the EU and the Eurozone will continue, Chancellor Merkel's footprint was so significant that it would not be surprising if history were organized into "before Merkel" and "after Merkel."

Since I was going to deepen the discussion on Germany, I thought that structuring the argument around the retirement of a great figure like Chancellor Merkel would interest more people. Therefore, I chose the current title and placed the Merkel era at the center of the discussion. While there are naturally many discussions regarding my specialty of economics and finance, I also tried to handle aspects such as politics and diplomacy as carefully as possible. Additionally, I organized the points of contention from three perspectives—present, past, and future—to make it easier to read.

Furthermore, in this book, I attempted a comparison between Germany and Japan. Many Japanese people tend to think that "Germany and Japan are similar." However, looking back at politics and the economy since the 2000s, there is a strong sense that Japan has fallen behind Germany. Of course, there is no doubt that structural strengths unique to the EU, led by the Euro as an "eternally undervalued currency," benefit Germany, and in that respect, some parts may feel unfair from Japan's perspective. However, the fact that almost no economic slowdown was seen throughout the 16 years of the Merkel era is likely the result of steadily clearing political issues considered "painful but necessary," such as the Schr?der reforms. Many of the concerns once held by the Schr?der reforms apply to Japan today. I believe Japan needs an attitude of greedily absorbing what should be learned from Germany, rather than just lamenting the unfairness.

Daisuke Karakama

Nikkei BP / Nikkei Publishing

292 pages, 2,640 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.