Introduction

This book is an integrated and empirically survey-based exploration of Japanese politics in the first two decades of the 21st century, as viewed from the perspective of “anxiety over governance.” It is based on time-series data on Japanese political behavior over 40 years, data from the Asian Barometer Survey and World Values Survey, international comparative surveys that include Japan over a 20-year period, and data from two surveys evaluating the Japanese government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–2021. The latter half of the Introduction outlines the contents of the chapters that follow, starting with the declining impact of social capital on politics, the shrinking range of political parties from which voters can choose, and the coexistence of Asian values with liberal democratic values. Then, by conceptualizing and empirically examining the notion of anxiety over governance – the perception of excessive risk for future governance – the chapters explore the links between anxiety and Japanese political behavior. Whereas the high regard for democratic politics lowers anxiety among Japanese voters, the multifaceted negative aspects of Japanese national politics contribute to a generally high level of anxiety and also had a significantly negative impact on evaluation of the government’s countermeasures against COVID-19.