|
Japan INTEREST GROUPS
The emphasis on consensus in Japanese politics is seen
in the
role of interest groups in policy making. These groups
range from
those with economic interests, such as occupational and
professional associations, to those with strong
ideological
commitments, such as the right-wing Society to Protect
Japan and
the left-wing Japan Teachers Union (Nihon Kyoshokuin
Kumiai--
Nikkyoso). There are groups representing minorities (the
Burakumin
Liberation League, the Central Association of Korean
Residents in
Japan [Chosoren], and Utari Kyokai in Hokkaido,
representing the
Ainu community); groups representing war veterans and
postwar
repatriates from Japan's overseas colonies (the Military
Pensions
Association and the Association of Repatriates); the
victims of the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and women
opposed to
prostitution and the threat to public morals posed by
businesses
offering "adult" entertainment (the Japan Mothers League).
Mayors'
and prefectural governors' associations promote regional
development. Residents' movements near United States
military
installations in Okinawa and elsewhere pressure local
authorities
to support reductions in base areas and to exert more
control over
United States military personnel off base. The great
majority of
Japanese are connected, either directly or indirectly, to
one or
more of these interest groups.
In the postwar period, extremely close ties emerged
among major
interest groups, political parties, and the bureaucracy.
Many
groups identified so closely with the ruling LDP that it
was often
difficult to discern the boundaries between the party and
the
various groups. Officers of agricultural, business, and
professional groups were elected to the Diet as LDP
legislators.
Groups of LDP parliamentarians formed zoku
(tribes), which
represented the interests of occupational constituencies,
such as
farmers, small businesses, and the construction industry.
The
zoku, interest groups, and bureaucrats worked
together
closely in formulating policy in such areas as agriculture
(see Bureaucrats and the Policy-Making Process
, this ch.).
In the case of the Socialist Democratic Party of Japan
(until
1991 known as the Japan Socialist Party), the Democratic
Socialist
Party, the Japan Communist Party (Nihon Kyosanto), and
Komeito
(Clean Government Party), the links with interest groups
were even
more intimate. Before the public-sector unions linked up
with the
Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) in 1989, most
leaders of
the Japan Socialist Party and Democratic Socialist Party
and many
socialist Diet members had been officers of the
confederation's
predecessors, the General Council of Trade Unions of Japan
(Nihon
Rodo Kumiai Sohyogikai, or Sohyo for short), founded in
1950, and
the Japan Confederation of Labor (Zen Nihon Rodo Sodomei,
or Domei
for short), established in 1964. Despite repeated
disavowals, the
Komeito remains related to its parent body, the Value
Creation
Society (Soka Gakkai), an organization of lay followers of
the
Buddhist sect Nichiren Shoshu, founded before World War II
and one
of Japan's most successful new religions
(see Komeito
, this ch.;
Religious and Philosophical Traditions
, ch. 2). The
communists had
their own unions and small business groups, which competed
with
conservative small business associations. Japan's
relatively few
lawyers divided their allegiance among three professional
groups
separately affiliated with the LDP, the Japan Socialist
Party, and
the Japan Communist Party.
Both the LDP and the opposition parties, which had weak
regional organizations, depended on the interest groups to
win
elections. The interest groups provided funding, blocks of
loyal
voters (although these could not be manipulated as easily
as in the
past), and local organizational networks.
One important question concerning interest groups in
any
country is how well they represent the diverse concerns of
all the
citizens. A second is whether government responds
evenhandedly to
their demands. Japan's postwar record on both counts was
generally
good. Both major and minor groups in society were well
represented.
And the government has implemented policies to spread the
blessings
of economic growth among the population at large. Such
arrangements
helped to ensure political stability and to explain why,
in
repeated public opinion polls, 90 percent of respondents
viewed
themselves as "middle class."
After the war, for example, there were major policy
changes on
agriculture. Despite prewar nationalistic idealization of
the rural
village, the government at that time squeezed the farmers
for taxes
and rice. Political scientist Kent E. Calder observed that
"the
prewar state took heavily from the countryside, without
providing
much in return." Historians describe how many farm
families starved
or were forced to sell their daughters into prostitution.
Responding to the threat of vigorous leftist movements in
the
countryside, conservative governments after 1945 initiated
price
supports for rice and other measures that brought the
farmers not
just a decent standard of living but affluence. By the
1970s, it
was not uncommon to encounter group tours of farmers who
had never
visited Tokyo taking holidays in Hawaii or New York City.
In
Calder's view, conservative governments were stoutly
probusiness
but were also willing to co-opt other interests such as
agriculture
at the expense of business to ensure social stability and
prevent
socialist electoral victories. Sometimes government
adopted
policies first espoused by the opposition (for example,
medical
insurance and other social welfare policies).
Data as of January 1994
|
