ABSTRACT
Japanese politics has long been dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). This chapter seeks to address whether the LDP’s political marketing strategies or those of its opponents have played a role in the ruling party’s success, and whether these strategies have changed in light of new electoral laws introduced in the 1990s. After briefly outlining the Japanese political system and media in Japan, we turn our attention to political marketing strategies in the post-war period before providing an analysis of post-1993 strategies for each major non-LDP party in Japan. As the LDP’s recent political marketing strategies and techniques have been in a state of flux, they are addressed in a case study on the 2005 election at the end of the chapter. The study is based on analysis of secondary and primary sources, and interviews with staff from Japan’s three largest political parties.
