Hayes - Introduction to Japanese Politics

Introduction to Japanese Politics , now in its fully updated sixth edition, is a comprehensive and current review of political and public policy developments in Japan. Since the previous edition, Japans economic policy has undergone significant change with a prolonged period of deflation having altered the dynamics of the economy. At the same time the Abe administration has expanded Japans international security participation, previously limited by the constitution, while Chinas activities in the South China Sea have impinged on Japans territorial claims.

This classic introduction to the Japanese political system has been revised and fully updated to take into account these widespread changes in the countrys political life. Building on the structure and content of the previous edition, this new edition covers:

• An overview of Japans geographical setting and history
• Japans political institutions, processes, and actors
• Recent organizational, ideological, and policy changes in the LDP since its return to power
• The countrys distinctive social order and its educational, health care, and public safety systems
• The increasingly contentious realm of foreign relations and security issues, including Chinas expanding role and the effect of North Koreas development of nuclear weapons.

This broad-ranging textbook continues to be essential reading for students of Japanese politics, international politics and Japanese studies.

Louis D. Hayes is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Montana.

Sixth Edition

Louis D. Hayes

Sixth edition published 2018
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2018 Taylor & Francis

The right of Louis D. Hayes to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

First edition published by Paragon House 1992
Fifth edition published by ME Sharpe 2009

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hayes, Louis D., author.

Title: Introduction to Japanese politics / Louis D. Hayes.

Description: Sixth edition. | New York, NY: Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017010126 | ISBN 9781138235281 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138244153 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315277097 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: JapanPolitics and government1945

Classification: LCC DS889 .H394 2018 | DDC 952.04dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017010126

ISBN: 978-1-138-23528-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-24415-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-27709-7 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC

During the 1980s it became popular in the West, and especially in the United States, to look on Japan with a mixture of admiration and suspicion. Admiration was born of the fact that Japan had made enormous economic progress in a short time, allowing it to all but capture certain world markets, such as those of cameras and consumer electronics. This success produced suspicion that Japan somehow posed a threatthat it was devious and did not play fair. The ambivalence of this view is due in part to the character of Japanese behavior but derives as well from a lack of knowledge among outsiders of Japans history, culture, and distinctive approach to politics and economics.

Since the 1990s the popular perception of Japan has changed. It is now seen by many as a spent force, at least in economic terms. After the Japanese peoples sense of well-being was assaulted by the combined disasters of the Kobe earthquake and the Tokyo subway gas attack in 1995 and the economy became mired in the doldrums, the Japanese began to lose confidence in their national purpose.

It would be a mistake to go too far and dismiss Japan as an insignificant player in world affairs, however. The Japanese have met serious challenges before and impressively overcame them. There is too great a tendency to prejudge Japanese institutions and actions and to presume that, because they differ from those in the West, they must be inferior. Both the education and employment systems, for example, are dismissed by many in the West and by some Japanese as perverse. In this view, Japanese students pay a high price, including psychological damage, to achieve the status of world leaders in math and science; economic success comes about because workers are oppressed and exploited. But the Japanese are not a nation of neurotics driven by some strange need to be number one. Although they may work harder than some, they also enjoy the pleasures of life. This is not to say that Japan has invented the perfect society. It has many problems, some of which are discussed in the pages that follow.

There is much to be learned from the Japanese, but doing so requires an open mind. Politically Japan is a bridge between the experiences of the West and those of Asia. The institutional structure has been intentionally patterned after that of Europe and the US, while the political culture on which this structure rests is distinctly Asian in character. Apart from its own intrinsic merits as a political system, therefore, the Japanese polity affords the student an opportunity to study the processes of interaction between western-style political development and a non-western social and cultural tradition.

The book is divided into six parts. is introductory and, in addition to describing the physical character of Japan, briefly surveys the historical background before the Second World War. The US occupation after the war, an experience that had considerable impact on the development of Japans political institutions, is also covered in this section.

describes the operation of the political process. This is viewed from three perspectives: the formal structure of government, the political party system, and political behavior and participation.

Political processes do not exist independent of other aspects of society but interact with and on them. These aspects are the subject of , which is concerned in particular with how society is made up and how it organizes itself. Also of concern, especially to outsiders, is the operation of the economy, which is neither monolithic nor as decisively important as is widely believed.

provides a close look at three areas of public policy and the workings of government: education, health care, and public safety. Japan has few peers in the academic achievement of its students; it also has an effective and efficient health-care system and, to the envy of Americans, a low crime rate. Japans distinctive approaches to these predominant areas of public concern are explored.