Political Corruption And Scandals In Japan

Understanding corruption in Japanese politics -- Scandals in early postwar Japan, 1948-1978 -- Scandals and reform, 1979-2001 -- Scandals and reform, 2002-2016 -- Bureaucratic corruption and political scandals -- Sex and campaign finance scandals -- Election law violations as political corruption

Scholars often use the term "structural corruption" when discussing modern Japan's political system--a system that forces politicians to exchange favors with businessmen in return for funds to finance their political careers. Scholars argue that the origins of corruption can be found in the "iron triangles" formed by politicians, bureaucrats, and businessmen during the postwar era or during the Pacific War years. In this examination of malfeasance in Japanese public office, Richard Mitchell systematically surveys political bribery in Japan's historical and cultural contexts from antiquity to the early 1900s. Mitchell's narrative serially considers scandals involving courtiers in the ancient imperial government, corruption among the shogun's samurai officials, and political bribery among bureaucrats and party politicians in the mid-nineteenth century. Mitchell concludes that bribery was as ubiquitous in premodern Japan as it has been in recent times. Focusing on the period since 1868, Mitchell discusses in fascinating detail changes in political bribery in the wake of suffrage expansion, estimates of the enormous amount of campaign money needed to win a Diet seat in both the prewar and postwar periods, and the low conviction rate of suspected takers of bribes. Here is a highly readable and reliable survey of an important yet largely neglected topic in English-language studies of Japanese political history.

This is a short, readable, and incisive study of the corrosive effects of corruption in one of the world's major liberal democracies. It explores the disconnect between democratic rule and undemocratic practices in Japan since the Second World War, with special attention to the corrupt practices of various prime ministers and the resulting sense of political cynicism and powerlessness among the general public.

The Imperial Rayon Company corruption scandal (popularly known as the Teijin incident) was Japan's major interwar political bribery case. Compared to numerous Japanese corruption cases of the past century, the Teijin affair stands out as not only the most sensational of the pre-1945 era, but also the most important--perhaps because more than any other case, it has left an indelible mark on the public mind. Nevertheless, Japanese and foreign scholars have neglected this incident, which brought down an entire cabinet and produced a record-setting trial. The sixteen defendants, all prominent bureaucrats, ministers, and businessmen, were charged with illegally profiting from the sale of Imperial Rayon Company stock held by the Bank of Japan. In December 1937, after a more than two-year trial, all sixteen were found innocent when the judges declared that the case had been fabricated by the prosecution. Their verdict ranks in importance with the famous Otsu case judgment, the benchmark for judicial independence from the executive. Despite its importance, basic facts about the Teijin case remain obscure, as scholars repeat factual misinformation and produce farfetched conspiracy theories. This study, the first comprehensive, scholarly work on the subject in English or Japanese, investigates controversial and important issues regarding the origins, results, and significance of the incident. It illustrates transwar continuities within the judicial system by showing that the institutional flaws in the old criminal justice system, which were magnified by the Teijin investigation and trial, remain embedded despite reform attempts during the Occupation. While illuminating the basic institutional features that generated it, the author uses the incident to spotlight the considerable amount of political criticism and public conflict that existed in Japan in the 1930s.

"I would like to commend Professor Woodall for his in-depth look at the corrupt "dango" system that has plagued the public works market in Japan. Having spent the last ten years trying to pry open the closed Japanese public works market, I believe that this book lays out clearly the structural problems that block access for U.S. firms. I hope that this illuminating look at how the Japanese system operates will lead to further changes in Japan's public procurement system."--Senator Frank L. Murkowski "Woodall has done a wonderful job of getting behind the scenes to look at the preeminent sector where money flows to politicians. This is the richest and most subtle analysis of this industry to appear in English."--Ezra F. Vogel, author of "Japan as Number One" "An important contribution to our knowledge of Japan. Brian Woodall has dug up quite a bit of new factual information on this understudied industry."--Frances Rosenbluth, author of "Financial Politics in Contemporary Japan" and coauthor of "Japan's Political Marketplace"

A leader of a global superpower is betrayed by his mistress, who makes public the sordid details of their secret affair. His wife stands by as he denies the charges. Debates over definitions of moral leadership ensue. Sound familiar? If you guessed Clinton and Lewinsky, try again. This incident involved former Japanese prime minister Sosuke Uno and a geisha. In Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle, Mark D. West organizes the seemingly random worlds of Japanese and American scandal—from corporate fraud to baseball cheaters, political corruption to celebrity sexcapades—to explore well-ingrained similarities and contrasts in law and society. In Japan and the United States, legal and organizational rules tell us what kind of behavior is considered scandalous. When Japanese and American scandal stories differ, those rules—rules that define what’s public and what’s private, rules that protect injuries to dignity and honor, and rules about sex, to name a few—often help explain the differences. In the cases of Clinton and Uno, the rules help explain why the media didn’t cover Uno’s affair, why Uno’s wife apologized on her husband’s behalf, and why Uno—and not Clinton—resigned. Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle offers a novel approach to viewing the phenomenon of scandal—one that will be applauded by anyone who has obsessed over (or ridiculed) these public episodes.

This book is an exploration of media scandals in contemporary Japanese society. In shedding new light on the study of scandal in Japan, the book offers a novel view of scandal as a specific mediatized ritual which follows moral disturbances throughout Japanese history. Media and society are analyzed largely in terms of social performances, while the focus is on how Japanese transgressors talk and act when explaining their scandals to the public. A detailed analysis of three case studies is provided: the drug scandal of the popular Japanese celebrity Sakai Noriko; the donation scandal centering the heavyweight politician Ozawa Ichirō; and the Olympus accounting fraud revealed by the British CEO Michael Woodford. This book will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese culture and society, anthropology, communication and media studies.

In 1998 the Japanese government was rocked by a series of scandals that seemed to threaten the entire postwar order. This book focuses on what these scandals meant for the Japanese system -- and for the rest of the world. The largest scandal centered on Hiromasa Ezoe, the founder of the Recruit group of magazines, who spread millions of his unlisted shares among Japan's powerful elite to gain influence. Holstein shows how hopes for political and social change in Japan in the wake of the Recruit scandal were dramatically overblown. Drawing on exclusive interviews with participants, Holstein provides an incisive analysis of U.S.-Japanese relations.