The major 2023 symposium was organised by Prof. Dr. Loïc Levoyer at the University of Poitiers on 28 and 29 September 2023. Dedicated to « Social Portection Systems in Times of Crisis », these fifth Franco-Japanese comparative perspectives opened with a public lecture entitled « Japan, a Quiet Leader: What Social and Societal Challenges in the 21st Century? ». This lecture was delivered on 28 September 2023 by Madame Guibourg Delamotte, Prof. Dr. of Political Science in the Department of Japanese Studies at INALCO, Researcher at IFRAE (UMR 8043), and author of Japan, a Quiet Leader (Eyrolles Editions, 2023).