Japan as Humpty Dumpty

It is strange for Japan to be compared with the former communist regimes of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

But that was exactly what T. J. Pempel did when he said it was clear that the old Japanese regime had been displaced and that the transition was underway in the late 1990s. But what was unclear, he noted, was how that transition would play out, and what new equilibrium would replace the old.

"What was clear, however, was that, like Humpty Dumpty, the old regimes in Japan, just as in the former communist countries, could not be put back together again." (T. J. Pempel, Regime Shift: Comparative Dynamics of the Japanese Political Economy)

Unless the yoke is intact, I can just imagine the gooey mess of egg yolk mingled with the egg white. Might make a nice omelet though.