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Japan The Human Factor
The most important human factor in the policy-making
process is
the homogeneity of the political and business elites. They
tend to
be graduates of a relatively small number of top-ranked
universities. Regardless of these individuals' regional or
class
origins, their similar educational backgrounds encourage
their
feeling of community, as is reflected in the finely meshed
network
of marriage alliances between top official and financial
circle
(zaikai) families. The institution of early
retirement also
foster homogeneity. In the practice of amakudari,
or descent
from heaven, as it is popularly known, bureaucrats
retiring in
their fifties often assume top positions in public
corporations and
private enterprise. They also become politicians. By the
late
1980s, most postwar prime ministers had had civil service
backgrounds.
This homogeneity facilitates the free flow of ideas
among
members of the elite in informal settings. Bureaucrats and
business
people that are associated with a single industry, such as
electronics, often hold regular informal meetings in Tokyo
hotels
and restaurants. Political scientist T.J. Pempel has
pointed out
that the concentration of political and economic power in
Tokyo--
particularly the small geographic area of its central
wards--makes
it easy for leaders, who are almost without exception
denizens of
the capital, to have repeated personal contact. Another
often
overlooked factor is the tendency of elite males not to be
family
men. Late night work and bar-hopping schedules give them
ample
opportunity to hash and rehash policy matters and engage
in
haragei (literally, belly art), or intimate, often
nonverbal
communication. Like the warriors of ancient Sparta, who
lived in
barracks apart from their families during much of their
adulthood,
the business and bureaucratic elites are expected to
sacrifice
their private lives for the national good.
Data as of January 1994
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