Abstract
This chapter examines the realities of modern-day Japanese politics on the regional level. It does so on two levels of analysis: firstly by looking at the position occupied by regional government and the players in local politics in the national budget allocation process, the basis for Japanese decision-making; and secondly by asking how local government reaches decisions on formulation and implementation of policy — and in what way the various local political actors participate in the process.
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Notes
Miyake Ichiro, Yamaguchi Yasushi, Muramatsu Michio and Shindō Eōchi, Nihon Seiji no Zahyō: Sengo 40 nen no Ayumi [The co-ordinates of Japanese politics: 40 years of progress since the war] (Ytihikaku, 1985 ) pp. 234–42.
Kawanaka Nikō, ‘“Chōki Seisaku” to Chihō Gyōsei’ [‘Regional policy’ and local administration], Nenpō Seiji Gaku: Gendai Nihon no Seitō to Kanryō [Annual review of Japan Political Science Association: Parties and bureaucrats in contemporary Japan] (Iwanami Shoten, 1967) pp. 7–10.
It may well be that the block governors’ associations, and their expanding influence over policy decisions, can be seen as an expression of growing regional corporatism in the sense of what Rhodes calls ‘policy communities’, but more positive data is needed to settle the question. See Ōmori Wataru and SatōSeizaburō, eds, Nihon no Chihō Seifu [Local government in Japan] (Tokyo University Press, 1986), pp. 253–5
and R.A. Rhodes, Control and Power in Central-Local Government Relations (Gower, 1981).
Nihon Toshi Sentā [Japan Centre for Cities], Toshi ni okeru Seisaku Keisei no Arikata [Patterns of urōan policy formation] (Dai-ichi Hōki Shuppan, 1981).
Inoue Seiichi, Ringisei Hihanron nitsuite no Ichikōsatsu: Waga Kuni Gyōsei Kikan ni okeru Isla Kettei Katei no Jissai [Rethinking criticisms of ringisei: The practicalities of the policy decision-making process in Japanese administration] ( Gyōsei Kanri Kenkyû Sentâ, 1981 ). All descriptions of prefecture ‘A’ follow Inoue’s classification.
Ibid., pp. 3–6. Tsuji Kiyoaki, Shinpan Nihon Kanryōsei Kenkyū [A study of Japanese government administration (new edition)] (Tokyo University Press, 1969 ).
Seisaku Keisei, Kettei ni kansuru Shikanbu Shokuin Ankēto Chōsa [Survey of urōan administrative staff on policy formation and decision-making], 1985. The survey was conducted in June 1985 with a sample of 308 department directors and section chiefs from the cities of Mito, Hitachi, Katsuta and Tsuchiura. The questions asked adopted many of those used in the ‘Survey of the realities of the policy formation process’ (Seisaku Keisei Katei no Jittai Chōsa) published in Katō Tomiko et al, Chihō Jichitai ni okeru Seisaku Keisei Katei no Mikuro Bunseki: Seisaku Keisei no Seiji Gyōsei Rikigaku [A micro-level analysis of the policy formation process in local government: The political and administrative dynamics of policy formation] (Chihō Jichitai Kenkyû Shiryō Sentā, 1979), but with a number of new questions devised by the author. The response rate was 53.4 per cent in Mito, 91.2 per cent in Hitachi, 100 per cent in Katsuta and 89.3 per cent in Tsuchiura. Thanks are due Prof. Satō Morihiro of Tsukuba University’s Social Sciences Department, for his mediation, and also for the kind cooperation of the mayor, deputy mayor, treasurer, planning department staff, and of course the section chiefs and department directors of each of the cities. Much is also owed to Hasegawa Kōsuke, assistant in the Humanities Faculty at Ibaraki University, for help in writing the survey, and to the students of my seminar then held in the Social Sciences Department of that university and department for their assistance in compiling its results.
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© 1997 Minoru Nakano
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Nakano, M. (1997). Public Decision-Making and the Articulation and Mediation of Regional Interests. In: The Policy-Making Process in Contemporary Japan. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230375512_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230375512_5
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