Crisis and Compensation : Public Policy and Political Stability in Japan

571 Pages·1989·17.218 MB·English

by  Kent E Calder

Written under the auspices of the
Center of International Studies,
Princeton University
C R ISIS AND
CO M PENSATION
Public Policy and Political
Stability in Japan,
1949-1986
KENT E. CALDER
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © 1988 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Guildford, Surrey
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Calder, Kent E.
Crisis and compensation: public policy and political stability in Japan, 1949-
1986 / Kent E. Calder.
p. cm.
Bibliography: p. Includes index.
ISBN 0-691-05650-1 (alk. paper)
I. Japan—Politics and government—1945- I. Title.
DS889.C28 1988 320—dcl9 88-9730
Publication of this book has been aided by the Whitney Darrow Fund of
Princeton University Press
This book has been composed in Linotron Trump
Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books
are printed on acid-free paper, and binding materials are
chosen for strength and durability. Paperbacks, although satisfactory
for personal collections, are not usually suitable for library rebinding
Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey
Designed by Laury A. Egan
To
Rose E. Calder
and to the memory of
Grant H. Calder
A state without the means of change
is without the means
of its conservation.
--EDMUND BURKE

Contents
List of Illustrations xi
List of Tables xiii
Preface xv
A Note on Conventions xix
^Introduction 3
1 • The Specter of Crisis 36
2 • A Chronology of Crisis 71
3 • The Technocratic Possibility 127
<3^) • From Crisis to Compensation 156
5 • Agricultural Policy: The Wax and Wane of Rural Bias 231
6 • Regional Policy: Periodic Power to the Periphery 274
7 • Small Business Policy: The Confluence of Industrial
Policy and Welfare 312
8 • Welfare Policy: Strategic Benevolence 349
9 • Land Use Policy: Exclusive Circles of Compensation 376
10 ■ The Residual: Defense 411
11 • Explaining Patterns in Japanese Public Policy 440
Appendix I • Major Innovations in Six Key Japanese Public
Policy Sectors, 1945-1986 481
Appendix II • Japanese House* of Representatives General
Election Results, 1946-1986 490
Bibliography 495
Index 535

List of Illustrations
1.1 Divided Within: Japan's Fragmented Conservative
Political World, 1945-1955 58
2.1 Profiles of Domestic Crisis for Japan's
Conservatives, 1949-1986 74
2.2 The Ishida Vision: Premonitions of Crisis for
Japanese Conservatism (January 1963) 101
2.3 The Narrowing Left-Right Gap in National
Elections, 1955—1972 106
2.4 Crisis for Conservatives in the Nation's Capital:
Socialist and Communist Support in Tokyo, 1949-
1972 107
2.5 Growing International Pressures on Japanese
Conservative Policymaking, 1971-1986 118
4.1 Japanese Public Policy Profiles: A New Deal
Analogy? 162
4.2 Economic Growth and Budgetary Change in Japan,
1949- 1986 179
4.3 Conservative Preeminence and Budgetary Transition,
1948-1952 211
4.4 From Martial to Materialistic: Budgetary
Transformation in Japan, 1955-1974 212
4.5 Incipient Gaullism? Japanese Budget Patterns
of the 1980s in Comparative Perspective 213
4.6 Surges of Legislative Activity in the Japanese Diet,
1945-1984 216
5.1 Japanese Producer Rice Prices and the World Market,
1950- 1985 237
5.2 The Emergence of Marginal Part-Time Farming in
Selected oecd Nations, 1960-1985 242
5.3 Rising Farmer Affluence and Declining Reliance on
Agriculture, 1960-1980 243
5.4 Flousehold Income and Agricultural Sales for Farm
Families: A United States-Japan Comparison 244
5.5 Tax Withholding for Farmers and Nonfarmers 245
xii • LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
5.6 The Making of a Stable Conservative Rural Political
Base, 1945-1980 254
5.7 Japan's Producer Rice Price: Rates of Increase, 1949-
1986 259
6.1 Compensation for the Periphery: Top Public Works
Recipients in Japan, by Prefecture, 1981 282
6.2 Japan's New Industrial Cities Program (1962) 284
6.3 Japan's Technopolis Program: Designated Cities
(1982) 288
6.4 The Wax and Wane of Compensation Policies:
Public Works Spending in Japan, 1949-1986 300
7.1 Organization of Credit Insurance for Small
Businesses 321
7.2 Crisis and Compensation: Government Small
Business Loans and the Rise of Minsho 345
8.1 The Historical Evolution of Welfare Costs, 1960-85 350
8.2 The Fitful Emergence of the Japanese Welfare State,
1949-1986: Welfare's Share in the General Account
Budget 351
8.3 The Fluctuating Role of the Japanese Government in
Support of Medical Costs, 1960-1985 354
9.1 The Sharp Rise of Japanese Land Prices, 1955-1986 385
10.1 The Decline and Rise of Japanese Defense Spending:
Ratio of Defense Spending to gnp and the General
Account Budget 415
10.2 Japanese Defense Spending and Budgetary Counter-
Claims, 1951-1986 431