ABSTRACT
All governments are subject to pressures from individuals, groups, or social sectors seeking particularistic benefits. Most governments will respond to demands for what they regard as desirable changes or to pressures that, if ignored, could significantly undermine the regime. The importance of big business to the conservative government in Japan has been so well documented as to need no further elaboration. Japanese big business is represented organizationally in several diverse and autonomous federations. The major ones are the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations, the Federation of Economic Organizations, and the Japan Committee for Economic Development. Under the reorganized Arnerican-style system, Japan initially had only one permanent and legitimate institution of higher education beyond high school: the four-year university. Since 1952 the government, in response to business demands, has authorized four entirely new forms of higher educational institution, has proposed several more, and has encouraged significant differentiation among groups of institutions within these various categories.
