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Japan The Budget Process
Despite the increasingly apparent limits of
bureaucratic power,
the Budget Bureau of the Ministry of Finance is at the
heart of the
political process because it drows up the national budget
each
year. This responsibility makes it the ultimate focus of
interest
groups and of other ministries that competed for limited
funds. The
budgetary process generally begins soon after the start of
a new
fiscal year on April 1. Ministries and government agencies
prepare
budget requests in consultation with the Policy Research
Council.
In the fall of each year, Budget Bureau examiners reviews
these
requests in great detail, while top Ministry of Finance
officials
work out the general contours of the new budget and the
distribution of tax revenues. During the winter, after the
release
of the ministry's draft budget, campaigning by individual
Diet
members for their constituents and different ministries
for
revisions and supplementary allocations becomes intense.
The
coalition leaders and Ministry of Finance officials
consult on a
final draft budget, which is generally passed by the Diet
in late
winter.
In broad outline, the process reveals a basic
characteristic of
Japanese political dynamics: that despite the oft-stated
ideals of
"harmony" and "consensus," interests, including
bureaucratic
interests, are in strong competition for resources.
Political
leaders and Budget Bureau officials need great skill to
reach
mutually acceptable compromises. The image of "Japan
Incorporated,"
in which harmony and unanimity are virtually automatic,
belie the
reality of intense rivalry. The late-twentieth-century
system is
successful insofar as superior political skills and
appreciation of
common interests minimize antagonisms and maintain an
acceptable
balance of power among groups. It is unclear, however,
whether this
system will continue as Japan faces such problems as
growing social
inequality, an aging society, and the challenge of
"internationalization" of its society and economy.
Data as of January 1994
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