Special Corporations and the Bureaucracy : Why Japan Can't Reform

This book reveals how the Japanese national ministries can exploit their Special Status Corporations (public corporations, supported primarily with public funding from a state-run banking agency) in order to intensify their administrative power over industries and local governments and to perpetuate the interests of elite civil servants by facilitating the migration to post-retirement positions in the private sector. The book explains why the existence of these organizations inhibits the Prime Ministers efforts to implement structural reforms. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 List of Tables......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 10 1 Introduction......Page 12 The maze of public corporations......Page 13 The murky side of special corporations......Page 15 Structural reform and the streamlining of public corporations......Page 16 Why Western academics have not conducted extensive research on public corporations......Page 17 Accessing information: the constraints on investigation......Page 20 Outline of the book......Page 22 The literature and reference material......Page 24 2 Special Corporations: On and On They Go......Page 25 Public disclosure......Page 26 Public corporations: why so many?......Page 27 Dissolution but in name only......Page 28 Koizumi's proposed reforms to cut public spending......Page 29 Deeper in debt but in denial......Page 30 Holding on to a good thing......Page 33 Political opposition to special corporations......Page 34 Commentaries from opposition parties......Page 35 Revelations by the Japanese media......Page 38 A watchdog organization has its say......Page 39 Independent administrative institutions: more image than substance?......Page 41 Defining the governing system......Page 62 The Meiji Restoration, the birth of the modern bureaucracy and the roots of the 'ruling triad': the source of bureaucratic power......Page 65 The bureaucracy, big business and the industrialization of Japan: 1890–1914......Page 66 The bureaucracy, big business and the industrialization of Japan: 1914–28......Page 68 The bureaucracy and big business: the Second World War......Page 69 4 The Power of the Bureaucracy: The Continuing Saga......Page 71 The Liberal Democratic Party (sei)......Page 72 The bureaucracy (kan)......Page 74 The Japanese opinions of their bureaucracy......Page 78 The bureaucracy: power maintained......Page 84 The elite officials: a world apart......Page 85 Kone: it's the connections that count......Page 88 Group unity/individual consent......Page 91 Group pressures within organizations......Page 92 What interpersonal networks can reap for local government......Page 94 Owners of small and medium-sized businesses: a link to the bureaucracy means a lot......Page 98 Definition......Page 102 Manifestations of amakudari......Page 103 A variation on the amakudari theme: shukko......Page 104 Amakudari to special corporations and public corporations......Page 105 Amakudari to the private sector......Page 108 Amakudari to political office......Page 110 Shukko to local government: an extension of ministerial control......Page 111 Shukko to universities......Page 114 Round and round it goes......Page 115 7 The Japan External Trade Organization: The Scent of a Ministry......Page 116 The skill at disguise (henshin no gijutsu)......Page 120 Does JETRO promise more than it can deliver?......Page 124 JETRO's 'core mission': sowing the seeds of a ministry......Page 128 8 Conclusion: Non-Performing Reforms......Page 130 Forecast for Japan: too little, too late?......Page 133 Notes......Page 137 Bibliography......Page 147 C......Page 150 I......Page 151 K......Page 152 M......Page 153 P......Page 154 Z......Page 155 In an attempt to cut public spending, which rose to 140% of GDP in 2002, Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan has targeted public corporations - in particular, special corporations - for dissolution or restructuring. However, he is experiencing stiff opposition from vested interest groups, among them the national ministries. They are in charge of administering the reforms but have come to rely upon their corporations and their numerous affiliates as vehicles that can be used to intensify control over industry and local government policy and equally as good sources for postretirement positions for elite officials. The book explains: Why there is strong political movement to dissolve Special Corporations How the corporations can perpetuate the interests of the ministries thus inhibiting structural reforms How the fundamental characteristics of the Japanese political economic system give the bureaucracy the power to continue operating their corporations, despite political opposition How the corporations function to extend ministerial control over local government