ABSTRACT
MOST TEXTBOOKS about the contemporary politics of Japan start from the perception that its salient feature is quasi-permanent single party dominance by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Around this has formed a structure of bureaucratic and business-oriented power that is complex, replete with checks and balances and somewhat pluralistic. It exhibits some highly problematic features, notably slow response in situations of crisis, a tendency to corruption and a failure to present the electorate with real policy alternatives. Some, on the other hand, argue that although extremely conservative, the Japanese system of politics gives to the Japanese people continuity of administration, political stability, an atmosphere in which it is possible to plan for the long term, and a conspicuously professional, if bureaucratic, approach to many areas of policy making. Perhaps the biggest issue facing Japan in the 1990s is whether the political system can be made more accountable, less corrupt and more responsive in situations of need without destroying the stability, professionalism and predictability that have been its strong features.
