
Also called the ‘super-smart society’, Society 5.0 envisions a sustainable, inclusive socio-economic system, powered by digital technologies such as big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things and robotics. The term refers to the idea that Society 5.0 will follow Society 1.0 (hunter-gatherer), Society 2.0 (agricultural), Society 3.0 (industrialized), and Society 4.0 (information). After the Abe Cabinet issued its first growth strategy in 2013, this was revised every year until 2017, when it was overhauled to include the new concept of ‘Society 5.0’. The first two arrows have helped Japan’s economy to stay afloat but it is the last component that will be all-important in the long run. These arrows were analysed by the UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015). During his record-breaking tenure, he has sought to revitalize Japan’s economy by promoting ‘Abenomics’, which consists of ‘three arrows’: monetary easing, fiscal stimulus and a growth strategy. Here, the author of the chapter on Japan in the last UNESCO Science Report (2015), Professor Yasushi Sato from Niigata University, explains why both the government and business leaders have high hopes for this strategy.Īt year’s end, Shinzo Abe is expected to become the first Japanese prime minister ever to serve more than eight years in office. Japan’s new blueprint for a super-smart society, Society 5.0, is a more far-reaching concept than the Fourth Industrial Revolution, for it envisions completely transforming the Japanese way of life by blurring the frontier between cyberspace and the physical space. UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.MGIEP - Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development.IESALC - International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean.IITE - Institute for Information Technologies in Education.IICBA - International Institute for Capacity-Building in Africa.IBE - International Bureau of Education.ICTP - International Centre for Theoretical Physics.IIEP - International Institute for Educational Planning.UNEVOC - International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training.Education for Sustainable Development Network.International Coalition of Inclusive and Sustainable Cities – ICCAR.Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.Advancing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
