This is the first comprehensive analysis of the ways in which changes in the geopolitical context have altered the nature of the long-stable U.S.-Japan relationship: much of what had once been a bilateral and relatively exclusive relationship has been transformed in the past two decades. The authors present eleven case studies of important domains-ranging from increased flows of private capital to international security concerns to the growing importance of multilateral organizations-in which the relationship has been altered to a greater or lesser degree. Individual chapters present new ways of understanding international financial flows, U.S.-Japan trade relations, and U.S.-Japan manufacturing rivalry. Others present very cogent synthetic analyses of the changing context of U.S.-Japan relations. Together they provide an account of the bilateral, regional, and global institutions-political, military, and financial-that dominate the geopolitics of U.S.-Asia relations. Although written to a consistently high intellectual level, the chapters in this timely volume are intended for a nonspecialist audience and will be useful to practitioners in business and government, as well as to students and teachers.

This is the first comprehensive analysis of the ways in which changes in the geopolitical context have altered the nature of the long-stable U.S.-Japan relationship: much of what had once been a bilateral and relatively exclusive relationship has been transformed in the past two decades. The authors present eleven case studies of important domains-ranging from increased flows of private capital to international security concerns to the growing importance of multilateral organizations-in which the relationship has been altered to a greater or lesser degree. Individual chapters present new ways of understanding international financial flows, U.S.-Japan trade relations, and U.S.-Japan manufacturing rivalry. Others present very cogent synthetic analyses of the changing context of U.S.-Japan relations. Together they provide an account of the bilateral, regional, and global institutions-political, military, and financial-that dominate the geopolitics of U.S.-Asia relations. Although written to a consistently high intellectual level, the chapters in this timely volume are intended for a nonspecialist audience and will be useful to practitioners in business and government, as well as to students and teachers.

Japan's national government, and most of its local governments, have been in conservative hands for more than three decades. Recently, however, the strength of progressive opposition forces has been increasing at the local level. The contributors to this volume analyze this increasing opposition to determine whether it is a temporary phenomenon or portends permanent changes

Originally published in 1981.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Japan's national government, and most of its local governments, have been in conservative hands for more than three decades. Recently, however, the strength of progressive opposition forces has been increasing at the local level. The contributors to this volume analyze this increasing opposition to determine whether it is a temporary phenomenon or portends permanent changes Originally published in 1981. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

After holding power continuously from its inception in 1955 (with the exception of a ten-month hiatus in 1993 1994), Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost control of the national government decisively in September 2009. Despite its defeat, the LDP remains the most successful political party in a democracy in the post World War II period. In The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP, Ellis S. Krauss and Robert J. Pekkanen shed light on the puzzle of the LDP's long dominance and abrupt defeat. Several questions about institutional change in party politics are at the core of their investigation: What incentives do different electoral systems provide? How do politicians adapt to new incentives? How much does structure determine behavior, and how much opportunity does structure give politicians to influence outcomes? How adaptable are established political organizations?

The electoral system Japan established in 1955 resulted in a half-century of "one-party democracy." But as Krauss and Pekkanen detail, sweeping political reforms in 1994 changed voting rules and other key elements of the electoral system. Both the LDP and its adversaries had to adapt to a new system that gave citizens two votes: one for a party and one for a candidate. Under the leadership of the charismatic Koizumi Junichiro, the LDP managed to maintain its majority in the Japanese Diet, but his successors lost popular support as opposing parties learned how to operate in the new electoral environment. Drawing on the insights of historical institutionalism, Krauss and Pekkanen explain how Japanese politics functioned before and after the 1994 reform and why the persistence of party institutions (factions, PARC, koenkai) and the transformed role of party leadership contributed both to the LDP's success at remaining in power for fifteen years after the reforms and to its eventual downfall. In an epilogue, the authors assess the LDP's prospects in the near and medium term."

A collection of essays which examine the influence of media in Japan. These essays discuss the media's influence in politics and public opinion, to name a few.

Social and political conflict in postwar Japan is the subject of this volume, which draws together a series of field-based studies by North American and Japanese sociologists, anthropologists, and political scientists. It focuses attention on the sources of conflict and the ways in which conflict is expressed and managed. This book challenges the widely held theories stressing the harmony and vertical structure of social relations in Japan, which imply that conflict is only of minimal importance. Not only does the research presented here force recognition of the existence and complexity of conflict patterns in Japan, its approach to conflict provides a dynamic, empirical, and interdisciplinary focus on social and political processes in the postwar period. The editors' theoretical introduction is followed by a general conceptual piece by one of Japan's foremost sociologists. Ten empirical studies, each offering both new data and new insights on known data about Japanese social and political systems, analyze conflict and conflict resolution in interpersonal relations, industrial relations, education, rural villages, government bureaucracy, parliament, political parties, and interest groups, including how they are manifested in women's and student protest movements and portrayed in the mass media. Western social science conflict theories are applied to enhance our understanding of both the universal and the unique elements in Japanese social and political institutions.

After holding power continuously from its inception in 1955 (with the exception of a ten-month hiatus in 1993 1994), Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost control of the national government decisively in September 2009. Despite its defeat, the LDP remains the most successful political party in a democracy in the post World War II period. In The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP, Ellis S. Krauss and Robert J. Pekkanen shed light on the puzzle of the LDP's long dominance and abrupt defeat. Several questions about institutional change in party politics are at the core of their investigation: What incentives do different electoral systems provide? How do politicians adapt to new incentives? How much does structure determine behavior, and how much opportunity does structure give politicians to influence outcomes? How adaptable are established political organizations?

The electoral system Japan established in 1955 resulted in a half-century of "one-party democracy." But as Krauss and Pekkanen detail, sweeping political reforms in 1994 changed voting rules and other key elements of the electoral system. Both the LDP and its adversaries had to adapt to a new system that gave citizens two votes: one for a party and one for a candidate. Under the leadership of the charismatic Koizumi Junichiro, the LDP managed to maintain its majority in the Japanese Diet, but his successors lost popular support as opposing parties learned how to operate in the new electoral environment. Drawing on the insights of historical institutionalism, Krauss and Pekkanen explain how Japanese politics functioned before and after the 1994 reform and why the persistence of party institutions (factions, PARC, koenkai) and the transformed role of party leadership contributed both to the LDP's success at remaining in power for fifteen years after the reforms and to its eventual downfall. In an epilogue, the authors assess the LDP's prospects in the near and medium term."

The aftermath of Japan's 1945 military defeat left its public institutions in a state of deep crisis; virtually every major source of state legitimacy was seriously damaged or wholly remade by the postwar occupation. Between 1960 and 1990, however, these institutions renewed their strength, taking on legitimacy that erased virtually all traces of their postwar instability.

How did this transformation come about? This is the question Ellis S. Krauss ponders in Broadcasting Politics in Japan; his answer focuses on the role played by the Japanese mass media and in particular by Japan's national broadcaster, NHK.

Since the 1960s, television has been a fixture of the Japanese household, and NHK's TV news has until very recently been the dominant, and most trusted, source of political information for the Japanese citizen. NHK's news style is distinctive among the broadcasting systems of industrialized countries; it emphasizes facts over interpretation and gives unusual priority to coverage of the national bureaucracy. Krauss argues that this approach is not simply a reflection of Japanese culture, but a result of the organization and processes of NHK and their relationship with the state. These factors had profound consequences for the state's postwar re-legitimization, while the commercial networks' recent challenge to NHK has helped engender the wave of cynicism currently faced by the state.

Krauss guides the reader through the complex interactions among politics, media organizations, and Japanese journalism to demonstrate how NHK TV news became a shaper of Japan's political world, rather than simply a lens through which to view it.