---

9 Government and Politics Lecture Notes ?001 by Mineharu Nakayama

9.1. Political Heritage

Keywords: the strong sense of unity, the strong sense of the ethical basis for government, high standard of administrative efficiency, 4 factors that make Japan different from Korea and China, entrepreneurial spirit

Tokugawa - absolute obedience and loyalty and granting the superior unlimited authority

- no inalienable rights, no concepts that might have underlain a Magna Carte, no experience of any sort with representative bodies

important political heritage - the strong sense of unity,

- strong sense of the ethical basis for government

-high standard of administrative efficiency

4 factors - different from Korea and China

a) self-conscious distinction from China

b) the ideal of uniform, centralized political rule conflicted sharply with the feudal realities of local autonomy and class divisions - easier change

c) the 19th century Japanese could find adequate native justification for the great political, economic, and social revolution being forced on them by the menace of the West (cf. no traumatic spiritual shift)

d) they were willing to learn from the West - more realistic appraisal of the Western military and economic power

peasants in Tokugawa - entrepreneurial spirit - easy change

evolutionary - not revolutionary

9.2. Emperor

Keywords: actual control of the country, 1947 constitution, the emperor's denying his divinity, Imperial Household Ministry, Emperor Hirohito, Emperor Akihito

A single reigning family

lost actual control of the country in 9th c (except 1333 Godaigo's attempt)

Meiji - political center, but never occurred that the emperor should actually rule - others make actual decisions

1947 constitution - "the symbol of the state and the unity of the people"

1/1/46 - denying the emperor's divinity - more effective to others than the Japanese - no religious significance

Imperial Household Ministry - now an agency in the prime minister's office (his immediate family and his brothers) - budget - decided by the Diet

Emperor Hirohito - a biologist

emperor - permanent - non controversial

9.3. The Diet and Government

Keywords: 1889 constitution, House of Peers , House of Representatives, 1947 constitution, a vote of non confidence, the suffrage of women, House of Councilors, House of Representatives, Constitutional amendment, Legislature and the executive branches, candidacy ages for HC, HR, prime minister, 12 ministries, prime minister's office, vice administer (jimu jikan), amakudari, 47 states, local government, legal system, candidacy ages for Mayor and Governor, foreign policies

1889 constitution - 25 yrs old or up with 15yen tax - a voting right (1.26% of the population in 1890)

House of Peers , House of Representatives

1900 - 10 yen tax almost double the voting population

1919 - 3 yen tax - more than double the voting population

Diet did not have firm control over army and navy - not even bureaucracy

1947 constitution - Diet - highest organ of state power and the sole law-making organ (power to select the prime minister)

lower house - a vote of non confidence in cabinet

the suffrage of women

House of Councilors -252 members (6 yr term; at least 2 seats from each prefecture)

House of Representatives - 512 in 1986, 511 in 1993, 500 in 1996, 480 in 1999 - selects the prime minister and override the House of Councilors by a two-thirds majority

Constitutional amendment -(none so far) - 2/3 from both houses

16 permanent committees

January - budget for next year (from April) - if not pass, the same as last year

Legislature and the executive are not balanced as conflicting political forces

bills -drafted by bureaucrats

Prime Minister - less powerful, like a chairman of a committee, 2 2yr term

LDP till 1993 and after 1994 coalition with JSP

12 ministries - Finance, International Trade and Industry (MITI), and Foreign Affairs, chief cabinet secretary (kanbo chokan) are important

Prime Minister's Office

Ministry of Justice

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Ministry of Finance

Ministry of Education

Ministry of Health and Welfare

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and fisheries

Ministry of International Trade and Industry

Ministry of Transport

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications

Ministry of Labor

Ministry of Construction

Ministry of Home Affairs

director of the prime minister's office - a counterpart of the White House Executive Office, Economic Planning Agency (will move to the Ministry of Finance), Defense Agency (less powerful than other comparable government organs), Science and Technology Agency (will move to the Ministry of Education)

a very general policies

Weak Diet leadership -> fairly autonomous and influential - vice administer or vice-director (jimu jikan) - bureaucrat (high civil service is a truly elite corps - very competent, self-confidence, very dynamic due to early retirement - amakudari (modest salaries)-kanson minpi-the officials honored the people despised)

47 states - metropolis, circuit, municipal prefectures, regular prefectures

villages - less than 30,000; towns -less than 50,000, cities - more than 50,000

Ministry of Education - local boards of education

local government - 70% from the central government - financially dependent

Legal system - Supreme Court - appointed by the prime minister (removal by popular vote)

no jury system, 99% of conviction, no plea bargaining

fewer than 1/15 of lawyers - not much money and recognition - Japan Legal Training and Research Institute

few lawyers in the members of the Diet

Kogai - Minamata - mercury poisoning

9.4. Political Parties and Elections

Keywords: multiple-seat electoral district, election campaign, LDP, JSP/Shamintoo, Jiyuutoo (LP), JCommunist Party (Kyoosantoo), Minshutoo (DP), # of Diet members

multiple-seat electoral district - voters have a single vote - a certain degree of proportional representation for minority parties -improbable a sudden great change -> multiple and single electoral district in 1996 -> but see below for the current situation after the 1999 reform

strong local and personal appeal

discrepancy - 3 to 1, in the US 75 to one (senate)

a strong rural flavor

no house-to-house soliciting of votes

bribes - house wives

no dinners

limited air time (equal time for each candidate, no private campaign on air)

campaign - loud from 8 am

election day - Sunday

JSP after WWII , but LDP (formed in 1955 from Liberal plus Democratic parties) till 1993 (coalition - JSP, Japan New Party, Shinsei-to, Sakigake, Koomei-to, Democratic Socialist Party - heads of JNP and Sinseito -prime ministers, Prime Minister Hata - 2 months))

fractions

1994 June - JSP, LDP, Sakigake coalition

1996 small electoral districts (LDP, Shinshin-too, Shamin-too, Sakigake, Minsha-too, Kyoosan-too, etc.)

1999 LDP and LP coalition

Shinshin-to is gone now and Jiyu-to (Liberal Party) has been created.

2000 LDP, Koomeito, and Hoshutoo coalition

Jiyu-to (Liberal Party) has been divided into two, Liberal Party and Hoshuto (Conservative Party)

Current situation (2001)

House of Councilors -252 members (6 yr term; at least 2 seats from each prefecture)

a half of those seats are filled every three years in single seat (prefectures with small populations) and multiple seat "local" districts in large prefectures (total 152 seats); a national propotional representation district (100 seats)

House of Representatives - 480 members

300 are selected in single-member district and 180 in 9 regional propotional representation districts (i.e., no propotional representation national district).

9.5. Decision-Making Process and Political Style

Keywords: the prime minister and the cabinet, kanjicho, drafting of legislation, the Policy Research Committee, amakudari, pressure group, complex and slow process, interpersonal relations, democracy, behind the scenes negotiations, colorless and ponderously slow system

the prime minister and the cabinet - a sort of executive committee for the Diet

- not a balancing power with Congress

most political decisions - within the party in power - secretary general (kanjicho) is important

each fraction - a fair share of posts

drafting of legislation normally starts with proposals by various grouping in the bureaucracy and negotiations by them with the subcommittees of the Policy Research Committee

all Diet members can attend the meetings of any subcommittee and speak their minds freely.

Consensus is sought throughout and the initiative often starts in the lower echelons of the leadership group

70 percent of their drafts receive eventual enactment

30 percent of those offered by individual members of the Diet and almost none by opposition parties

big business, amakudari - pressure group- farmers, Japan Medical Association, Teachers Union, federations of labor, women's organizations, "citizens' movements", "local residents' movements", the subcommittees of the Policy Research Committee, advisory boards (shingikai)

less respect for verbal skills, limit their Diet debates to embarrassing questions -next election in mind

complex, interpersonal relations, inevitably slow process

democracy operates in ways unfamiliar to westerners

mass demonstrations of protest, inflamed public rhetoric, and confrontations in the Diet-unattractive

behind the scenes negotiations

"peace constitution - supported by Anti-American strongly

a floating protest vote against current government - not ideology

stability of democracy

few important shifts of fundamental policy

the Japanese system - colorless and ponderously slow

9.6. Issues

Keywords: the American army and MacArthur's dictatorial power, Komeito, Democratic Socialist, LDP, JSP, Teachers Union, Read Army (Sekigun), Nucleus Faction (Chuukaku-ha), Prime Minister Tanaka, Lockheed Corporation, imbalance between industrial growth and social welfare, the rush of rural people to the cities, the lagging investment in public facilities, care for the aged, crowding and pollution (kogai), right to sunshine, Environment Agency

Kishi - a member of Tojo's wartime cabinet

dichotomy - clear in early times, but not much effect because of the overwhelming presence of the American army and MacArthur's dictatorial power

Marxist concept (first) - Komeito

Democratic Socialist - indistinguishable from LDP (no longer exist)

JSP - leftist ideologues and centrist pragmatists- "multiparty political system under socialism designed to defend parliamentary government" - independence from Russia and China in 1970

Teachers Union - against Ministry of Education - control over local education

Read Army (Sekigun), Nucleus Faction (Chuukaku-ha)

1968 Tokyo U - closed

Narita International Airport

A major problem - the vagueness of the line between legal and illegal political contributions, giving gifts - corruption - Tanaka's resignation in 1974 (Lockheed Corporation)

imbalance between industrial growth and social welfare, the rush of rural people to the cities, and the lagging investment in public facilities such as housing, roads, sewage systems, parks, and higher education

Care for the aged, crowding and pollution (right to sunshine -kogai) - An Environment Agency