The State (Coming Apart At The Seams)

Abstract

Outsiders who study the Japanese state usually do a rather poor job of understanding it. This is a hard state, of that they are certain. And thus they immediately try to find some figure who ‘runs the place,’ as in not only the West but most of the developing countries and other parts of Asia. This eventually turns out to be an impossible task, for the politicians, where they first look for the locus of power, don’t seem to have much. Only then do they discover that the bureaucrats, and somewhat later, if they are smart, the businessmen are also part of any ruling class. However, the relations between these three components, who does what and who takes the lead, continue to escape most.