ABSTRACT
The political scene is characterized by a multitude of competing interests with no main locus of responsibility. The culture underpins a political process that is anachronistic, often in disorder and subject to bureaucratic malpractice, medieval in its deference to past practices, and rarely capable of keeping pace with advances in modern science, technology, and the rush of current events. Japanese politicians are a special breed and they revel in their image: aged men in swallow-tailed coats, younger and more ambitious men in the traditional dark suit, white shirt, and conservative tie attending fund-raising functions, marriages, funerals, village festivals, and secret meetings in expensive restaurants generally off-limits to more plebian clientele. The bureaucrat requires individuals to register their marriages and changes of address at their local ward office within a certain time frame. Factional politics is a fierce and lifelong struggle, pragmatic in philosophy, and devoid of ideology.
