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Fighting for Foreigners
Although stereotypically homogenized and hostile to immigrants, Japan has experienced an influx of foreigners from Asia and Latin America in recent decades. InFighting for Foreigners, Apichai W. Shipper details how, in response, Japanese citizens have established a variety of local advocacy groups-some faith based, some secular-to help immigrants secure access to social services, economic equity, and political rights.
Drawing on his years of ethnographic fieldwork and a pragmatic account of political motivation he calls associative activism, Shipper asserts that institutions that support illegal foreigners make the most dramatic contributions to democratic multiculturalism. The changing demographics of Japan have been stimulating public discussions, the political participation of marginalized groups, and calls for fair treatment of immigrants. Nongovernmental organizations established by the Japanese have been more effective than the ethnically particular associations formed by migrants themselves, Shipper finds. Activists who initially work in concert to solve specific and local problems eventually become more ambitious in terms of political representation and opinion formation.
As debates about the costs and benefits of immigration rage across the developed world, Shipper's research offers a refreshing new perspective: rather than undermining democracy in industrialized society, immigrants can make a positive institutional contribution to vibrant forms of democratic multiculturalism.
eBook
Building democracy in Japan
\"This book explains how Japan became a democracy. It offers a grassroots perspective and holistic understanding of Japan's democratization process and what it means for the nation today\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Popular Democracy in Japan
Popular Democracy in Japanexamines a puzzle in Japanese politics: Why do Japanese women turn out to vote at rates higher than men? On the basis of in-depth fieldwork in various parts of the country, Sherry L. Martin argues that the exclusion of women from a full range of opportunities in public life provokes many of them to seek alternative outlets for self-expression. They have options that include a wide variety of study, hobby, and lifelong learning groups-a feature of Japanese civic life that the Ministry of Education encourages.
Women who participate in these alternative spaces for learning tend, Martin finds, to examine the political conditions that have pushed them there. Her research suggests that study group participation increases women's confidence in using various types of political participation (including voting) to pressure political elites for a more inclusive form of democracy. Considerable overlap between the narratives that emerge from women's groups and a survey of national public opinion identifies these groups as crucial sites for crafting and circulating public discourses about politics. Martin shows how the interplay between public opinion and institutional change has given rise to bottom-up changes in electoral politics that culminated in the 2009 Democratic Party of Japan victory in the House of Representatives election.
eBook
Building Democracy in Japan
How is democracy made real? How does an undemocratic country create new institutions and transform its polity such that democratic values and practices become integral parts of its political culture? These are some of the most pressing questions of our times, and they are the central inquiry of Building Democracy in Japan. Using the Japanese experience as starting point, this book develops a new approach to the study of democratization that examines state-society interactions as a country adjusts its existing political culture to accommodate new democratic values, institutions and practices. With reference to the country's history, the book focuses on how democracy is experienced in contemporary Japan, highlighting the important role of generational change in facilitating both gradual adjustments as well as dramatic transformation in Japanese politics.
eBook
Japan's multilayered democracy
This book introduces a multilayered approach to the study of democracy, combining specific knowledge of Japan with theoretical insights from the literature on democratization. It examines different aspects of Japanese democracy—historical, institutional, and sociocultural—to provide a conscious understanding of the nature and practice of democracy, both in Japan and beyond. The book's chapters give testimony to the dynamic nature and continuity of Japanese democracy and analyze its strengths and weaknesses.
The central argument of this book is that Japan's democratization should be seen as a multilayered experience shaped by the gradual process of absorbing democratic ideas, forming democratic institutions, and practicing democratic behaviors and rituals at various levels of society. As the case of Japan shows, democracy is neither a structured formula nor only a set of democratic laws and institutions, but a continuous, gradual process.
eBook
Malfunctioning democracy in Japan
Many advanced countries are facing a shared problem that democracy is not functioning as well as it should. Malfunctioning Democracy in Japan: Quantitative Analysis in a Civil Society, by Yoshiaki Kobayashi, investigates the causes of these problems using Japan as a particular case study. Kobayashi begins with a discussion of the current functionality of democracy in Japan. These first chapters examine whether pledges given by political parties are ever fulfilled, which factors affect campaign pledges given by candidates at each election, and if there are discrepancies between public opinion and party policies. The next sections focus on the behavior of politicians and the behavior of voters. Kobayashi conducts a macro-analysis using aggregate data such as demographic and economic data, and then moves to micro-analysis using individual-level data to clarify precisely which factors determine voting behavior. Part Five approaches the elections which were held after Japan's political reform, inclusive of the 2009 lower house election which caused significant changes. Kobayashi considers point-of-view of issue voting-voting on the basis of the preference of party policies-and point-of-view of retrospective voting-voting on the basis of the evaluation of government performance. Finally, Malfunctioning Democracy in Japan makes proposals for political reform. Kobayashi's last chapter turns to the future and discusses both positive and possible changes to electoral systems, the registration of campaign pledges, the control over political influence on the public sector, and the eventual eradication of political corruption.
eBook