Hans H. Baerwald - Party Politics in Japan

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: JAPAN

PARTY POLITICS IN JAPAN

HANS BAERWALD

Volume 63

First published in 1986

This edition first published in 2011
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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.

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1986 Hans H.Baerwald

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0-203-84166-2 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 13: 978-0-415-56498-4 (Set)

eISBN 13: 978-0-203-84317-8 (Set)

ISBN 13: 978-0-415-59473-8 (Volume 63)

eISBN 13: 978-0-203-84166-2 (Volume 63)

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but
points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

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welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

HANS BAERWALD

Hans H.Baerwald, 1986
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Allen & Unwin (Australia) Ltd,
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First published in 1986

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.

To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledges collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.

Baerwald, Hans H.
Party politics in Japan
Bibliography: P.
Includes index.
1. Political partiesJapan.
2. Japan. Kokkaielections.
I. Title.
JQ1698.A1B34 1986 324.252009 868040
ISBN 0-04-320183-0 (Alk. paper)
ISBN 0-04-320184-9 (Pbk.: alk. paper)

Baerwald, Hans
Party politics in Japan.
1. JapanPolitics and governanent1945
I. Title
320.952 JQ1681
ISBN 0-04-320183-0
ISBN 0-04-320184-9 Pbk

Many individuals in Japan have helped me in my studies of Japanese politics over the past three decades. Countless members of the Diet (National Assembly) and their administrative assistants (hishokan) allowed me to interview them. Officials in the secretariats (jimukyoku) of the House of Representatives and House of Councillors provided me with detailed data. Government officials (yakunin) in various ministries and agencies of the Japanese government assisted me in gaining an understanding of their perspective, particularly during the course of my assignment to prepare the background report for the OECDs Social Sciences Policy: Japan (1977). Journalists, whose assignment included covering the political parties, the Prime Ministers Official Residence (Sri Kantei) and the National Assembly (Diet) were enormously helpful in disentangling the surface from the sub-surface of Japanese politics. Academic colleagues in Japanese universities did their best to help me avoid making too many errors. Without their unstinting assistance and encouragement, I could not have written this book. Only lack of space has precluded my listing all of them, but my debt to them is immense.

None of them should be held responsible for my interpretation of party politics in Japan. It is more than just possible that they will disagree with parts of my perspective. That outcome is inevitable. First, the Japanese themselves disagree about their countrys politics, as is true of any system that permits dissent. Secondly, the perceptions of a foreigner (gaijin) tend to be biased despite all efforts to overcome ethnocentric cultural values.

I am compelled, however, to mention by name a small number of specific individuals because of their extraordinary contributions to my understanding of Japanese politics. Former Prime Minister hira Masayoshi, whose sudden death in June 1980 was a personal as well as national tragedy, was always immensely kind and patient as Sensei (teacher). My indebtedness to him, his family and his close political associates is profound. Mr Sasagawa Takeo of the Sankei Shinbun (newspaper) began the process, in the summer of 1963, of introducing me into the special world of political journalism. Mr Watanabe Tsuneo of the Yomiuri Shinbun did more than anyone else in sharpening my appreciation of the importance of factions, and much else about the intricacies of party politics.

Among my academic colleagues, there are several who have done far more than friendship and the sharing of common interests would have required. Over the years, they often did so under circumstances that must have tried their goodwill and patience to the utmost. They include Professors Hashimoto Akira (Chairman of the Department of Political Science at Meiji University), Kobayashi Katsumi (formerly of the National Defense College), Tomita Nobuo (Dean of Academic Affairs at Meiji University), Uchida Mitsuru (of the Faculty of Political Science at Waseda University), and Watanabe Yasuo (President of International Christian University). Mr Sam Jameson, Tokyo Bureau Chief of the Los Angeles Times and the best foreign correspondent in Japan, has been a true friend, a generous host, and a marvelously perceptive critic of my writing, both in style and in substance.

I would also like to express my appreciation to Professor Arthur Stockwin, Director of Oxford Universitys Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies. He and the Institutes faculty, staff and graduate fellows provided an invigorating and supportive environment while I was a Senior Associate Member in the autumn of 1985.

My late colleague James S.Coleman, who was the founding director of UCLAs Office of International Studies and Overseas Programs, and Vice Chancellor Elwin Svenson were exceptionally helpful. They made it possible for me to have the benefit of both a special leave and a succeeding sabbatical leave from my regular duties at UCLA in order that I might have time to write. Mr Yasuo Sakata and Mrs Mariko Kitamura Bird, my associates in UCLAs Japan Exchange Program, have done yeoman service during my extended absence, and in translating my drafts into acceptable typescripts. Steve Clemons, my most recent teaching assistant, made numerous helpful suggestions.