ABSTRACT
First published in Dissent (Melbourne), Autumn 1967 IT IS HARDLY surprising if the politics of ‘mystery’ countries (whether closed or
merely alien) give rise to a variety of incompatible and often single-factor theories. This is well known in the case of the Soviet Union, until recently at least the most ‘mysterious’ of them all. Japan, with a unique culture and opaque language, has also tended to attract the attention of model-builders and categorizers. A brief look at the postwar Western literature on Japanese politics reveals something of the influences upon the writers themselves, as well as many insights into the nature of the system.
