The 9.1 magnitude "super quake" was the fourth largest earthquake in recorded history, according to Tamura. Two thousand homes were either destroyed or partially destroyed in the disaster, and Japan will need at least 30 trillion yen to rebuild damaged areas, he said.
Experts' predictions of an 8.0 aftershock have further discouraged companies from reopening and have delayed reconstruction efforts, he said.
The immediate devastation of the earthquake and tsunami is minimal relative to the enormous impact the disaster has had and will continue to have on the Japanese economy, according to Tamura.
"Japan's fiscal problem is a quietly escalating crisis," he said. "The economy is shrinking faster than we expected."
Japan now faces reduced electric, production and consumption power, and the relocation of people and businesses from Tokyo has created a "deflationary spiral," Tamura said. Tourism in Tokyo has decreased by 50 percent, and there has been a 90-percent decline in sales in Nakamise, one of the world's largest shopping centers located in Tokyo's Asakusa district, according to Tamura.
Japan's survival as an economic superpower depends on political reform and the establishment of local autonomy, Tamura said.
"Politicians choose leaders in Japan," Tamura said. "In the United States this responsibility is delegated to the people. Only responsible democracy can change the political and economic landscape of Japan."
Japan must decrease its budgetary spending 70 percent of which funds social insurance and other entitlements especially given Japan's aging population, Tamura said.
"Japan is famous for its aging society," Tamura said. "Re-allocation is an oh-so-hard choice, but we have to do it."
Japan currently spends $1.6 trillion on compulsory public pension funds that support 120 million people, according to Tamura. This cost has resulted in Japan's high debt to gross domestic product ratio the highest such ratio in the "history of mankind," Tamura said.
Tamura encouraged the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund a government-operated investment fund designed to increase a country's financial assets. Japan should invest its $1.1 trillion trade surplus into the fund because subsequent returns could help address Japan's looming debt crisis and allow Japan to invest in technology and sustainable energy development, Tamura said.
Japan should also construct carbon-neutral, energy- and food-producing cities in areas devastated by the earthquake, he said.
Tamura has served as the vice chair of Japan's House of Councillors' Policy Discussion Committee, and as a member of the Upper House's Research Committee on International Affairs, according to his website. He received a master's degree in international and development economics from Yale University and an MBA from Keio University Graduate School of Business.
Tamura's lecture, titled "Japan's Restoration: Disaster as a Mother of Reform," was sponsored by the history department. The Office of Pluralism and Leadership and the Dartmouth Japan Society co-sponsored a reception following the event.
