ABSTRACT
Until the crises of the 1990s tarnished its image, Japan was frequently portrayed in the popular media of the West and by many of the large number of scholars who study it as a dynamo of economic and social, if not necessarily political, efficiency. People are personally concerned about problems and less inclined to turn to the government for resolution. In post-industrial societies, established forms of political organization, especially legislatures and political parties, show diminishing capacity to handle the tasks before them. To fill the void, citizens' movements energize the political process to take action on issues delayed by the entrenched power of political and economic self-interest. The Japanese political process has a number of potentially serious flaws. The government is trying to use economic development not only to serve the ends of economic betterment of the Japanese people, together with enhancement of Japan in the world community, but also to address social problems.
