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The New Conservative Mainstream and New Security Policies Under Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, 2012 to 2016

Andrew L. Oros

in Japan's Security Renaissance: New Policies and Politics for the Twenty-First Century

This chapter examines the return of Shinzo Abe to Prime Minister of Japan from 2012-2015, paying special attention to new security legislation and military capabilities developed in this period.

Domestic Power Transitions and Japan’s Evolving Strategic Posture, 2006 to 2012

Andrew L. Oros

in Japan's Security Renaissance: New Policies and Politics for the Twenty-First Century

This chapter examines the first administration of Shinzo Abe, the fall of the LDP from power, and the three years of rule by the Democratic Party of Japan, with a focus on security policy innovation ... More

This chapter examines the first administration of Shinzo Abe, the fall of the LDP from power, and the three years of rule by the Democratic Party of Japan, with a focus on security policy innovation in this period.Less

The Joint Statement by the Japanese Government and the Bank of Japan

Masaaki Shirakawa

in Tumultuous Times: Central Banking in an Era of Crisis

This chapter reviews the Joint Statement by the Japanese government and the Bank of Japan. In the general elections of the House of Representatives on December 16, 2012, the Liberal Democratic Party, ... More

This chapter reviews the Joint Statement by the Japanese government and the Bank of Japan. In the general elections of the House of Representatives on December 16, 2012, the Liberal Democratic Party, led by Shinzo Abe, clinched an overwhelming victory and returned to power. During the campaign, Abe insisted on strengthening coordination between the government and the Bank of Japan, and the need for more aggressive monetary easing, and he often referred to the possibility of revising the Bank of Japan Act. The author confronted two conflicting responsibilities: he needed to respect the outcome of Japan's democratic process and to recognize that, by a wide margin, the population voted for a political party that was committed to pursuing a monetary policy that he thought misguided. But the author also needed to carry out his duties as governor of the bank, under the existing Bank of Japan Act, to ensure the stability of the currency. The efforts to reconcile these conflicting responsibilities produced the “Joint Statement of the Government and the Bank of Japan on Overcoming Deflation and Achieving Sustainable Economic Growth.” The author's agreement to the publication of the statement and the process leading up to it was the most difficult task of his tenure as governor.Less

Protecting the Status Quo: Japan’s Response to the Rise of China

Ian Bowers and Bjørn Elias Mikalsen Grønning

in Strategic Adjustment and the Rise of China: Power and Politics in East Asia

This chapter explores the domestic and international sources of Japan's adjustment to the power shift in Sino-Japanese relations. It argues that the growth of the Chinese economy, which is now larger ... More

This chapter explores the domestic and international sources of Japan's adjustment to the power shift in Sino-Japanese relations. It argues that the growth of the Chinese economy, which is now larger than the Japanese economy, and the modernization of the Chinese Navy pose a mounting challenge to Japanese security and its secure access to sea lanes of communication. China's rise and developments in Japanese domestic politics have produced a multifaceted Japanese strategic response to prevent China from posing a significant threat to Japanese security. Under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's leadership, Japan has strengthened its domestic capabilities with reform of its national security policymaking institutions and relaxed restrictions on international military cooperation.Less

Disjoined Cabinets—Act II: Twisted Diets and Lost Leadership Opportunity, 2006–2013

Brian Woodall

in Growing Democracy in Japan: The Parliamentary Cabinet System since 1868

This chapter focuses on the cabinets that occupied Japan’s executive helm from September 2006 through late 2013. During this period, the difficulties of dealing with “Twisted Diets” – in which the ... More

This chapter focuses on the cabinets that occupied Japan’s executive helm from September 2006 through late 2013. During this period, the difficulties of dealing with “Twisted Diets” – in which the ruling coalition did not control an upper house majority – posed problems for prime ministers and their cabinets. Once depicted as the Diet’s functionless “appendix,” hostile upper houses delayed the appointment of prime ministers and passage of the national budget, while obstructing governments’ attempts to provide tactical direction to policy and producing rapid turnover in prime ministers and cabinets. The three LDP-led governments that held forth following Prime Minister Koizumi’s resignation attempted to restore features of the ancien regime, while the three DPJ-led governments that governed after the August 2009 lower house elections put forward reform agendas. Yet despite alternation in ruling party and promises to reform the executive branch, cabinet government did not materialize. The LDP’s triumph in the December 2012 lower house elections returned Abe Shinzō to the premiership and led to a rollback of DPJ-imposed changes. The chapter concludes with an examination of the controversy surrounding the proposed relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station at Futenma.Less

Japan’s Twenty-First-Century Security Renaissance

Andrew L. Oros

in Japan's Security Renaissance: New Policies and Politics for the Twenty-First Century

This chapter provides an overview of Japan's security renaissance in the past decade, with special attention to three historical legacies that continue to limit Japan's defense policies: Japan's ... More

This chapter provides an overview of Japan's security renaissance in the past decade, with special attention to three historical legacies that continue to limit Japan's defense policies: Japan's World War II history, its antimilitarist security policies of the postwar period, and the unequal aspects of the US-Japan alliance.Less

The Future of Gender in Japan: Work/Life Balance and Relations between the Sexes

Ayako Kano

in Japan: The Precarious Future

This chapter begins with a snapshot of gendered images in the days and weeks after March 11, 2011. It continues by analyzing changes in how gender has operated as a category of scholarly discussion, ... More

This chapter begins with a snapshot of gendered images in the days and weeks after March 11, 2011. It continues by analyzing changes in how gender has operated as a category of scholarly discussion, showing a shift in attention from gender inequality to class disparity. It suggests that the social and academic concern over weak men has obscured the problem of female poverty. It then reviews recent government policy on Gender-Equal Society and the conservative backlash, spearheaded by Shinzo Abe, against what could be called state feminism. The chapter describes several plausible scenarios for gender equality and family life in Japan in the near future, given current demographic and political trends. It concludes by suggesting several concrete measures for increasing equality, hope, and quality of life.Less

Abenomics and the Break with the BOJ Orthodoxy

Gene Park, Saori N. Katada, Giacomo Chiozza, and Yoshiko Kojo

in Taming Japan's Deflation: The Debate over Unconventional Monetary Policy

This chapter addresses how Prime Minister Abe Shinzō circumvented the monetary policy network by changing the membership of the Policy Board and how he reoriented monetary policy to reflect his ... More

This chapter addresses how Prime Minister Abe Shinzō circumvented the monetary policy network by changing the membership of the Policy Board and how he reoriented monetary policy to reflect his reflationary priorities. Upon coming to power, Prime Minister Abe launched his Abenomics agenda based on a strategy of “three arrows”: expansionary monetary policy, flexible fiscal policy (stimulus followed by longer-term fiscal consolidation), and supply-side focused structural reforms. To push his agenda further and to lock changes in, Prime Minister Abe changed the leadership at the Bank of Japan (BOJ). He appointed Kuroda Haruhiko, a former Ministry of Finance (MOF) vice minister of international affairs who had long been an outspoken critic of the BOJ, as governor. Upon becoming governor, Kuroda moved the Policy Board to embrace an aggressive approach to combating deflation. Since the start of Governor Kuroda's much bolder deployment of unconventional monetary policy, a number of economic measures have shown improvement.Less

Defenders of Japan Present and Future

Garren Mulloy

in Defenders of Japan: The Post-Imperial Armed Forces 1946-2016, A History

Contemporary Japanese defense involves greater integration of civilian and military aspects and interdependence of domestic, regional, and global aspects than in previous periods. This chapter ... More

Contemporary Japanese defense involves greater integration of civilian and military aspects and interdependence of domestic, regional, and global aspects than in previous periods. This chapter identifies how the Japan Self-Defense Forces adapted, in material ways, but also in recruitment, training, culture, and civil cooperation, with capabilities adapting to emergent challenges, particularly from China and North Korea. Civil-military and US-Japan alliance cooperation reached ultimate fulfilment in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, when the Forces demonstrated their extensive disaster relief and civil support skills honed through decades of domestic and overseas missions, as well as the inherent value of US alliance training and international engagement for Japan’s national and human security. The importance of building international relations was evident as Abe Shinzo sought to buttress Japan’s alliance with new partnerships and cooperative mechanisms, including the Quad and Free and Open Indo-Pacific, within which the Forces were expected to play prominent symbolic and functional roles. The irony is that the Forces reconfigured with more mobile, agile, and amphibious capabilities, for increased international roles as Japan’s peacekeeping and other overseas missions were withering, regional security challenges re-focusing resources and efforts towards near and national defense.Less

Ideas and Monetary Policy: A Quantitative Test

Gene Park, Saori N. Katada, Giacomo Chiozza, and Yoshiko Kojo

in Taming Japan's Deflation: The Debate over Unconventional Monetary Policy

This chapter assesses central bankers' attitudes toward inflation and deflation. Specifically, it presents a statistical test to demonstrate whether, and to what extent, the ideas held by the central ... More

This chapter assesses central bankers' attitudes toward inflation and deflation. Specifically, it presents a statistical test to demonstrate whether, and to what extent, the ideas held by the central bankers at the Bank of Japan (BOJ) influenced Japan's monetary policy. The results show a systematic effect of central bankers' ideas on how they determine what should be Japan's monetary base, while controlling for the status of the economy and the political environment. Concerns about inflation are a better predictor of policy than objective economic indicators. The results also reveal an Abe effect, a systematic impact of the policy ideas championed by Prime Minister Abe Shinzō after he came to power in 2012. Meanwhile, there is little evidence that the political business cycle or political partisanship influenced the BOJ policy choices.Less

Ideas, Networks, and Monetary Politics in Japan

Gene Park, Saori N. Katada, Giacomo Chiozza, and Yoshiko Kojo

in Taming Japan's Deflation: The Debate over Unconventional Monetary Policy

This introductory chapter provides a background of the monetary politics in Japan. Japan's economy dipped into deflation in the mid-1990s and again more seriously in the late 1990s; this period was ... More

This introductory chapter provides a background of the monetary politics in Japan. Japan's economy dipped into deflation in the mid-1990s and again more seriously in the late 1990s; this period was followed by a prolonged period of deflation from the end of the 1990s through the mid-2000s. With the start of the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2008, economic growth dropped sharply, as did prices. Then the Japanese economy suffered another blow with the devastating triple disaster of 2011: earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis. Despite these challenges and seemingly unshakeable deflation, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) remained reluctant to embrace aggressive unconventional monetary policies. Policy then shifted sharply at the end of 2012 under Prime Minister Abe Shinzō during his second term. Abe promised aggressive monetary measures to reflate the economy as part of his “Abenomics” package of economic revitalization policies.Less

A Place Where Women Shine?

Bill Emmott

in Japan's Far More Female Future: Increasing Gender Equality and Reducing Workplace Insecurity Will Make Japan Stronger

Gender inequality lies at the core of Japan’s human capital weakness as well as of its social ailments of declining marriage and low fertility. Prime Minister Abe Shinzo declared his ambition, soon ... More

Gender inequality lies at the core of Japan’s human capital weakness as well as of its social ailments of declining marriage and low fertility. Prime Minister Abe Shinzo declared his ambition, soon after taking office in late 2012, of achieving much greater female empowerment. Progress has been made, notably in increased childcare provision, but considerable barriers remain. The human capital embodied in Japanese women has improved greatly thanks to the rise in access to university education for female students in the 1990s and 2000s, but this has not yet been translated into leadership roles in part because most organizations use hierarchies ordered strictly by age but also because corporate culture (in the private and public sectors alike) is oriented towards long working hours, enforced socializing, and short-notice job postings, in continued disregard of families and of the now-dominant double-earner households. More women are however fighting back against overt discrimination, the Abe government has introduced a Work-Style Reform Bill to combat long working hours, and more companies are taking the need for diversity seriously. Role models have emerged in a wide range of fields and soon a critical mass of women in decision-making positions will be achieved.Less

The Obama Doctrine’s Asian Pivot

Robert G. Kaufman

in Dangerous Doctrine: How Obama's Grand Strategy Weakened America

The Obama Doctrine’s emphasis on soft power, engagement, and American military retrenchment has fundamentally misread the dynamic of power in the world’s most important geopolitical region in the ... More

The Obama Doctrine’s emphasis on soft power, engagement, and American military retrenchment has fundamentally misread the dynamic of power in the world’s most important geopolitical region in the twenty-first century. President Obama’s vaunted Asian pivot remains largely hollow because of the combination of an increasingly authoritarian China’s swelling ambitions and prodigious military buildup, which has coincided with American retrenchment and neglect of its prospective democratic allies in the region, such as Japan and India. Neither American soft power nor the president’s salutary but insufficient and belated attempts to cultivate democratic India and Japan diplomatically will suffice to reverse the precipitous decline in American credibility that is alarming the region. The source of President Obama’s serious and serial errors lies in his untenable depreciation of American hard power as well as his doctrine’s untenable neglect of regime type and ideology as critical variables for identifying friends and foes. The Obama Doctrine has dangerously discounted the importance of Chinese authoritarianism as a source of its relentless expansion while unwisely slighting democratic India and Japan as geopolitical counterweights to China’s hegemonic ambitions.Less