It would be easy to assume that not much has changed since Mr Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister and de facto senior statesman, was assassinated in broad daylight one year ago.

But there is an evolution under way, and Japan is moving closer to the nation Mr Abe aspired to when he was gunned down on the campaign trail for Upper House elections last July 8. The language of decline, of a country whose time has passed, is gone: From think-tanks to hedge funds, Japan is on everyone’s lips. Tokyo is at the heart of Washington’s strategy to “de-risk” from China. Money is flowing into the markets, led by investor Warren Buffett. And tourists are flocking back, with more Americans coming now than before the pandemic.