Politics: The Japanese Way

443 Pages·1986·33.702 MB·English

by  Jon Woronoff (auth.)

POLITICS
The
Japanese Way
Books by Jon Woronoff
WEST AFRICAN WAGER
ORGANIZING AFRICAN UNITY
HONG KONG: CAPITALIST PARADISE
KOREA'S ECONOMY, MAN-MADE MIRACLE
JAPAN: THE COMING SOCIAL CRISIS
JAPAN: THE COMING ECONOMIC CRISIS
JAPAN'S WASTED WORKERS
INSIDE JAPAN, INC.
WORLD TRADE WAR
JAPAN'S COMMERCIAL EMPIRE
THE JAPAN SYNDROME
ASIA'S "MIRACLE" ECONOMIES
POLITICS, THE JAPANESE WAY
POLITICS
The
Japanese Way
by
Jon Woronoff
M
MACMILLAN
PRESS
© Jon Woronoff 1986
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
of this publication may be made without written permission.
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and
civil claims for damages.
First edition (Lotus.Press Ltd, Tokyo 1986)
First edition (Macmillan) 1988
Published by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Woronoff, Jon
Politics the Japanese way.
1. Japan - Politics and government
- 1943-
I. Title
320.9'52 JQ1615
ISBN 978-0-333-45947-8 ISBN 978-1-349-19298-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-19298-4
Contents
Foreword
PART ONE: THE RULES
1. Revamping The System
Things Are Seldom What They Seem 13
The Old Game Ends 17
Imposing New Rules 28
PART TWO: THE PLAYERS
2. The Politicians
The One-And-A-Half Party System 39
An Eternal Ruling Party 48
A Perennial Opposition 60
Who Are The Politicians? 76
What Do They Do? 90
3. The Bureaucrats
The Bureaucracy Carries On 106
Superseding The Government 114
Economic Encroachment 124
An Almost Immaculate Elite 131
Regrettable Limitations 140
4. The Business Community
Who Represents Business? 150
Paying The Piper 158
Calling The Tune 166
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s.
Lesser Figures
A Workaday Emperor 175
The Subdued Military 177
A Judicious Judiciary 180
The Common Folk 181
High-Pressure Groups 194
Meciia Power 204
Foreign Pressure 210
PART THREE: SOME ENCOUNTERS
6. Economic Issues
Manipulating The Economy 221
Milking The Economy 228
Mobilizing Funds 234
Running Out Of Funds 240
Japan's Political Farmers 247
7. Social Issues
Re-Reforming Education 255
Environmental Destruction 263
Consumers Beware! 270
Labor Aristocrats And Coolies 278
To Welfare And Back 287
Administrative Retrogression 295
8. Political Issues
Public Works, Private Gain 305
Institutionalizing Corruption 314
Side-Stepping The Constitution 328
9. Foreign Policy (And Defense)
Foreign Affairs In A Skewed World 341
Economic Relations Uber Alles 350
Easy-Riding On Defense 357
Aspirations To Leadership 367
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PART FOUR: THE OUTCOME
10. The Japanese Way
What Japan Is Not 379
What It Is 389
Rectifying Names 399
11. Losing Control
A Country With Problems 406
The Machine Jams 413
The Impending Crisis 424
Acronyms 431
Bibliography 433
Index 443
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Foreword
Ever since I started writing my "crisis" books about a
decade ago, I intended to do a book which would be
entitled Japan: The Coming Political Crisis. But this effort
was constantly put off. Partly, I was too busy exploring
and demystifying other aspects of this supposed uniquely
successful country, especially the economy. The other
cause for delay was that the ins-and-outs of politics are
even more obscure and carefully hidden.
It has taken a long time to discover, first of all, what
Japanese politics is not. It was necessary to realize that
much of the activities, the parties, programs, elections and
so on that appear on the surface are just a facade. Then it
took more time to figure out what was going on under-
neath. This is much less documented and harder to grasp,
but certainly every bit as important. Finally, I wanted not
only to describe the mechanisms but show how they
affected virtually every aspect of Japanese life.
The result is Politics, The Japanese Way. It is an
attempt to examine Japanese politics in its own context,
discarding as much as possible the Western slant (since
adopted by the Japanese) of what should be studied and
looking at those things that make it function, whether
regarded as possessing academic merit or not. This has
taken me in very different directions from most other
authors on the subject. And it has frequently led me to
draw radically different conclusions.
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Unlike the other "crisis" books, I do not pause often to
scrutinize what others have written and confound their
more preposterous claims. I do not set out to dispel the
innumerable myths and illusions that prevail. Yet, in
nearly every page, I go against the current and refute (or
ignore) much of what is regarded as the conventional
wisdom. I also, once again, end up criticizing the system
more than others.
While this book may not be as glossy and uplifting as
desired, it does have an essential redeeming feature. For,
by getting away from the existing literature and seeking a
new path, I can do what the political scientists should have
done years ago. Being scientific is not to extrapolate from
what one's peers have said, to approve or condemn it, and
then to add a minor flourish of one's own. That is mere
quibbling.
The scientific approach is to look at reality, draw con-
clusions and come up with a hypothesis. This should
subsequently be tested by comparing it with reality again.
If it does not tally, it should be scrapped. If it reflects what
is actually happening to some extent, then it can be
refined. I have therefore gone to the events, the facts and
figures and tried to make sense of them. If my conclusions
differ from those of others, that is regrettable but of no
great importance.
Only if they deviate from reality am I seriously con-
cerned. By giving this book so much more time than the
others, and tracing events as closely as I could, I think I
have come up with a tolerable reflection of reality, of the
Japanese way of politics. I do not doubt that I have made
occasional errors or drawn some mistaken conclusions,
that is only natural. And I should be more than willing to
correct them if they are pointed out. But at least I have not
wasted my time scribbling about things that do not matter
just because it is expected.
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