Appropriate as a primary or supplementary text for upper level undergraduate and graduate level courses on Japanese politics and comparative Asian political systems, this text provides an introduction to the political structure of modern Japan. The various facets of Japanese politics are discussed, including: the sources of authority in the modern Japanese state; the structures of government; the informal or "floating" structures such as mass media institutions and citizen action groups; issues in contemporary Japan such as the future of education policy, environmental challenges, economics development, social welfare for an ageing population, and the future of nuclear power; "outsiders" and "insiders" in the modern Japanese state; the changing role of women; and Japan in a changing global environment.
Features of the text include: the analysis of the connections between an old aristocratic culture and a modern, even postmodern democratic Japanese State; discussions of the post "55 system", the new parties, and the fall and rise of the Liberal Democratic Party; and an examination of the October 1996 national election for the House of Representatives, the first under Japan's new election law.