Politics East and West: A Comparison of Japanese and British Political Culture by Curtis H. Martin Bruce Stronach

Author:Curtis H. Martin, Bruce Stronach [Curtis H. Martin, Bruce Stronach]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Ethnic Studies, General, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781351715492
Google: W0k4DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-10-03T03:29:50+00:00

Japan

Participation in prewar Japan was very limited. Democracy was never really trusted by the ruling elite, the fledgling socialist/populist movements of the turn of the century were ruthlessly put down by the state and even when democratic political values began to take hold in the 1920s they were depreciated by the military's ability to manipulate the government. In the days of the Meiji constitution, participation was not perceived as a right of the individual, but, at best, as a gilt to be given or rescinded by the emperor, the only true embodiment of the will of the people.

The occupation reforms, though not organic, released a flood of pent-up participation. More female members of the Diet were elected in the very first election that granted female suffrage, April 1946, than at any time since, and union membership and labor disputes skyrocketed, but eventually the enthusiasm diminished. SCAP's policy during the occupation was to democratize Japan and increase political participation. However, the long-term effect of the occupation may have been to limit the potential for participation. It is true that the occupation reforms went a long way to institutionalize democracy in Japan. But, in order to create the conditions for democracy, the occupation also had to employ a highly centralized, autocratic bureaucracy that used coercive measures, such as censorship of the press, to rule Japan. Some would argue that the lesson learned by the Japanese was that participation in a democratic government would be infinitely safer, but only relatively more effective, than participation in the prewar militaristic political system.

We saw in Chapter 2 that the distance between individual and polity can be clearly seen in the way both nations manifest pride in themselves. Japan has a great deal of pride in the nation but little pride in the state. The ability of the Japanese to make a sharp distinction between the political and social system, and remove themselves from the former, is aided by the traditional Japanese nondichotomous behavioral pattern discussed in Chapter 1. In a sense, the participatory aspects of democracy are accepted on a tatemae level by many Japanese, while the honne of their actual behavior is to participate as little as possible. An example of the individual's psychological removal from the political system may be found in the passive acceptance that underlies the uncontested dominance of the LDP as the government party since 1955.

Group norms, as we have seen previously, play a greater and different role in Japanese behavior than British. These norms both inhibit and encourage participation. The spectator nature of the political culture tends to work against participation. Political activism requires community support, and "dependency on one's group and weak sense of autonomy means that Japanese citizens frequently lack the self assurance to involve themselves individually in active participatory roles" (Richardson and Flanagan 1984: 193). For example, as the citizen moves out of the local group environment, he or she may encounter difficulty in establishing necessary personal relations and networks. This problem is especially acute for issues that cut across traditional groups—such as environmental or consumer issues.

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