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17.538

Politics and Policy in Contemporary Japan

3-0-9 units · Graduate

Analyzes contemporary Japanese politics, focusing primarily upon the post-World War II period. Includes examination of the dominant approaches to Japanese politics and society, the structure of the party system, the role of political opposition, the policy process, foreign affairs, and interest groups. Attention to defense, foreign, industrial, social, energy, and technology policy processes. Graduate students are expected to pursue the subject in greater depth through reading and class presentations. Assignments differ.

Spring 2009

Topics

  • Politics and policy in contemporary Japan
  • The “Modernization” of Japan
  • From Taisho to Showa
  • Transwar political history
  • Japanese culture and society
  • Japan incorporated [?]
  • The party system after 1993
  • The liberal democratic party
  • The diet
  • The electoral system
  • Voter mobilization and voting behavior
  • Civil society
  • Organized labor
  • The Zaikai
  • The bureaucracy
  • The budget process
  • Social policy
  • Defense and foreign policy
  • Energy policy
  • Science and technology process
  • Industrial policy
  • Japan in the Post-Cold War World
  • Undergraduate meeting

Readings

  • [Logic] = Curtis, Gerald. The Logic of Japanese Politics . New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780231108430.
    Required
  • [Postwar] = Gordon, Andrew. Postwar Japan as History . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780520074750.
    Required
  • [Modern] = Pyle, Kenneth. The Making of Modern Japan . Florence, KY: Wadsworth Publishing, 1995. ISBN: 9780669200201.
    Required
  • [Tokyo] = Samuels, Richard J. Securing Japan: Tokyo’s Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780801474903.
    Required
  • [Mirror] = Vlastos, Stephen. Mirror of Modernity: Invented Traditions of Modern Japan . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780520206373.
    Required
  • [State] = Schwartz, Frank and Susan Pharr. The State of Civil Society in Japan . New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780521534628.
    Required
  • *Samuels, Richard J., ed. “The Myth of the Independent Intellectual.” In The Political Culture of Foreign Area and International Studies: Essays in Honor of Lucian W. Pye . Dulles,VA: Potomac Books, Inc., 1992. ISBN: 9780028810140.
    Required
  • *Johnson, Chalmers. “ Omote (Explicit) and Ura (Implicit): Translating Japanese Political Terms.” In Japan: Who Governs?: The Rise of the Developmental State . New York, NY: Norton, 1995. ISBN: 9780393314502.
    Required
  • [Modern] Chapters 4-5 and 7-9.
    Required
  • *Suganami, Hidemi. “Japan’s Entry into International Society.” In The Expansion of International Society . Edited by Hedley Bull and Adam Watson. New York, NY: Oxford University Press USA, 1985. ISBN: 9780198219972.
    Required
  • *Najita, Tetsuo. The Intellectual Foundations of Modern Japanese Politics . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1980, pp. 1-148. ISBN: 9780226568034.
    Required
  • *Tsurumi, Yosuke. Present Day Japan . New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1926, chapters 1 and 2.
    Required
  • [Modern] Chapters 10-11.
    Required
  • Kosaka, Masataka. “ The Showa Era (1926-1989) .” Daedalus 119, no. 3 (Summer 1990): 27-48. ↗
    Required
  • Gluck, Carol. “ The Idea of Showa .” Daedalus 119, no. 3 (Summer 1990): 1-26. ↗
    Required
  • *Johnson, Chalmers. MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy 1925-1975 . Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1982, chapters 1-3. ISBN: 9780804712064.
    Required
  • *Duus, Peter. “The Reaction of Japanese Big Business to a State-Controlled Economy in the 1930’s.” International Review of Economics and Business (September 1984): 819-832.
    Required
  • [Modern] Chapters 12-14.
    Required
  • Passin, Herbert. “ The Occupation: Some Reflections .” Daedalus 119, no. 3 (Summer 1990): 107-130. ↗
    Required
  • *Johnson, Chalmers. MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy 1925-1975 . Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1982, chapters 5 and 6. ISBN: 9780804712064.
    Required
  • *Samuels, Richard J. The Business of the Japanese State . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1987, pp. 68-102 and 168-191. ISBN: 9780801494628.
    Required
  • Nakane, Chie. “Criteria of Group Formation.” Chapter 1 in Japanese Society . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1972. ISBN: 9780520021549.
    Required
  • Nathan, John. Japan Unbound: A Volatile Nation’s Quest for Pride and Purpose . New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2004, chapters 2, 5, and 6. ISBN: 9780618138944.
    Required
  • *Shipper, Apichai. “ The Political Construction of Foreign Workers in Japan .” Critical Asian Studies 34, no. 1 (2002): 41-68. ↗
    Required
  • Reed, Steven. Making Common Sense of Japan . Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993, chapter 5. ISBN: 9780822955108.
    Required
  • Amyx, Jennifer A. Japan’s Financial Crisis: Institutional Rigidity and Reluctant Change . Princeton, PA: Princeton University Press, 2004, chapters 1-3. ISBN: 9780691128689.
    Required
  • Colignon, Richard, and Chikako Usui. “ The Resilience of Japan’s Iron Triangle .” Asian Survey 41, no. 5 (September/October 2001): 865-895. ↗
    Required
  • Tamamoto, Masaru. “ Village Politics: Japans Prince of Disorder .” World Policy Journal 12, no. 1 (Spring 1995): 49-60. ↗
    Required
  • [Logic] Chapters 1-2.
    Required
  • [Logic] Chapter 5
    Required
  • Krauss, Ellis S., and Robert Pekkanen. “Explaining Party Adaptation to Electoral Reform: TheDiscreet Charm of the LDP?” Journal of Japanese Studies 30, no. 1 (Winter 2004): 1-34. ( PDF ) ↗
    Required
  • Ramseyer, J. Mark, and Frances McCall Rosenbluth. Japan’s Political Marketplace . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993, chapters 4 and 5. ISBN: 9780674472815.
    Required
  • Richardson, Bradley. Japanese Democracy: Power, Coordination, and Performance . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998, chapter 6. ISBN: 9780300076646.
    Required
  • Baerwald, Hans H. Japan’s Parliament: An Introduction . London, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1974, pp. 1-29 and 74-102. ISBN: 9780521203876.
    Required
  • Krauss, Ellis. “Conflict in the Diet.” In Conflict in Japan . Written by E. S. Krauss, T. P. Rohlen, and P. G. Steinhoff. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1984. ISBN: 9780824808679.
    Required
  • [Logic] Chapter 4.
    Required
  • Otake, Hideo. “Overview.” In How Electoral Reform Boomeranged: Continuity in Japanese Campaigning Style . Tokyo, Japan: Japan Center for International Exchange, 1998. ISBN: 9780700716449. ↗
    Required
  • *Reed, Steven R. “ Structure and Behaviour: Extending Duverger’s Law to the Japanese Case .” British Journal of Political Science 20, no. 3 (1990): 335-356. ↗
    Required
  • Otake, Hideo. “How a Diet Member’s Koenkai Adapts to Social and Political Changes.“In How Electoral Reform Boomeranged: Continuity in Japanese Campaigning Style . Tokyo, Japan: Japan Center for International Exchange, 1998. ISBN: 9780521846929. ↗
    Required
  • Richardson, B. “Japanese Voting Behavior in Comparative Perspective.” In The Japanese Voter . Edited by Scott C. Flanagan, Shinsaku Kohei, Ichiro Miyake, and Bradley M. Richardson. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780300047806.
    Required
  • Flanagan, S. “Mechanisms of Social Network Influence in Japanese Voting Behavior.” In The Japanese Voter . Edited by Scott C. Flanagan, Shinsaku Kohei, Ichiro Miyake, and Bradley M. Richardson. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780300047806.
    Required
  • Field, Norma. “Okinawa: A Supermarket Owner.” In Realm of a Dying Emperor: Japan at Century’s End . New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1993. ISBN: 9780679741893.
    Required
  • Pekkanen, Robert. “Molding Japanese Civil Society: State Structured Incentives and the Patterning of Civil Society.” In [State] Chapter 5.
    Required
  • Pharr, Susan J. “Social Conflict, Authority, and the State.” In Losing Face: Status Politics in Japan . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780520080928.
    Required
  • *Schwartz, Frank. “What Is Civil Society?” In [State] Chapter 1.
    Required
  • *Kumazawa, Makoto. Portraits of the Japanese Workplace: Labor Movements, Workers, and Managers . Edited by Andrew Gordon. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996, chapters 8 and 9. ISBN: 9780813317083.
    Required
  • *Tsujinaka, Y. “Rengō and Its Osmotic Networks.” In Political Dynamics in Contemporary Japan . Written by Gary D. Allinson and edited by Yasunori Sone. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780801480966.
    Required
  • *Gordon, Andrew. The Evolution of Labor Relations in Japan: Heavy Industry, 1853-1955 . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988, pp. 413-432. ISBN: 9780674271319.
    Required
  • Schaede, Ulrike. Choose and Focus: Japanese Business Strategies for the 21st Century . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008, chapters 2, 5-9, and 12. ISBN: 9780801447068.
    Required
  • Vogel, Steven K. Japan Remodeled . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005, chapter 6. ISBN: 9780801473715.
    Required
  • Pempel, T. J., and M. Muramatsu. “The Japanese Bureaucracy and Economic Development: Structuring a Proactive Civil Service.” In The Japanese Civil Service and Economic Development: Catalysts of Change . Edited by Hyung-Ki Kim, Michio Muramatsu, T. J. Pempel, and Kozo Yamamura. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780198289388.
    Required
  • Schwartz, Frank. “Of Fairy Cloaks and Familiar Talks: The Politics of Consultation.” In Political Dynamics in Contemporary Japan . Written by Gary D. Allinson and edited by Yasunori Sone. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780801480966.
    Required
  • Rozman, Gilbert. “ Backdoor Japan: The Search for a Way Out via Regionalism and Decentralization .” Journal of Japanese Studies 25, no. 1 (Winter 1999): 3-31. ↗
    Required
  • Campbell, John C. Contemporary Japanese Budget Politics . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1977, pp. 12-42 and 115-171. ISBN: 9780520040878.
    Required
  • Ramseyer, J. Mark, and Frances McCall Rosenbluth. Japan’s Political Marketplace . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993, chapter 7. ISBN: 9780674472815.
    Required
  • Suzuta, Atsuyoshi. “The Way of the Bureaucrat.” In Inside the Japanese System: Readings on Contemporary Society and Political Economy . Edited by Daniel Okimoto and Thomas Rohlen. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780804714235.
    Required
  • Schoppa, Leonard J. Race for the Exits: The Unraveling of Japan’s System of Social Protection . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006, chapters 1 and 9. ISBN: 9780801474453.
    Required
  • Takao, Yasuo. “Foreigners in Local Communities: Beneficiaries to Participants.” In Reinventing Japan: From Merchant Nation to Civic Nation . New York, NY: PalgraveMacmillan, 2007. ISBN: 9781403984142.
    Required
  • [Tokyo] Preface, introduction, chapters 5-7, and conclusion.
    Required
  • *Hughes, Christopher W. Japan’s Reemergence as a “Normal” Military Power . New York, NY: Routledge, 2006, pp. 368-9. ISBN: 9780198567585.
    Required
  • Samuels, R. J. The Business of the Japanese State . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1987, chapters 3-6 (select two) and chapter 7. ISBN: 9780801494628.
    Required
  • Upham, Frank. “ The Man Who Would Import: A Cautionary Tale About Bucking the System in Japan .” Journal of Japanese Studies 17, no. 2 (Summer 1991): 323-343. ↗
    Required
  • Pickett, Susan E. “ Japan’s Nuclear Energy Policy: From Firm Commitment to Difficult Dilemma Addressing Growing Stocks of Plutonium, Program Delays, Domestic Opposition and International Pressure . ” Energy Policy 30, no. 15 (2002): 1337-55. ↗
    Required
  • Lesbirel, S. Hayden. “ Diversification and Energy Security Risks: The Japanese Case .” Japanese Journal of Political Science 5, no. 1 (2004): 1-22. ↗
    Required
  • Freeman, Christopher. Technology Policy and Economic Performance: Lessons from Japan . London, UK: Pinter Publishers LTD, 1987, chapters 2 and 3. ISBN: 9780861879281.
    Required
  • Anchordoguy, Marie. “Japan’s Technology Policies and their Limitation.” In Japan and China in the World Political Economy . Edited by Saadia Pekkanen and Kellee Tsai. New York, NY: Routledge, 2005, pp. 189-204. ISBN: 9780415546751.
    Required
  • Samuels, Richard J. “ Rich Nation, Strong Army”: National Security and the Technological Transformation of Japan . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994, chapters 2 and 8. ISBN: 9780801499944.
    Required
  • Dore, Ronald. “Goodwill and the Spirit of Capitalism.” Chapter 9 in Taking Japan Seriously: A Confucian Perspective on Leading Economic Issues . Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780804714013.
    Required
  • Pekkanen, Saadia K. Picking Winners? From Technology Catch-up to the Space Race in Japan . Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003, chapter 3. ISBN: 9780804747325.
    Required
  • Vogel, Steven K. Japan Remodeled . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006, pp. 22-63 and chapter 7. ISBN: 9780801473715.
    Required
  • Armacost, Michael H. Friends or Rivals? New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1996, chapters 7-8. ISBN: 9780231104883.
    Required
  • Ozawa, Ichiro. Blueprint for a New Japan . New York, NY: Kodansha, 1994. ISBN: 9784770018717.
    Required
  • Pyle, Kenneth. The Japanese Question: Power and Purpose in a New Era . Washington, DC: AEI Press, 1996, chapters 2 and 6. ISBN: 9780844737997.
    Required
  • *Samuels, Richard J. “Rich Nation, Strong Army”: National Security and the Technological Transformation of Japan . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994, chapter 9. ISBN: 9780801499944.
    Required

Prerequisites & course information

Subject meets with 17.537 Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

Sources