Comparative Politics

B13(b) - Democracy, Government and Public Policy: Examining Contemporary Japanese Politics from Comparative Perspective

Date: Jun 3 | Time: 01:45pm to 03:15pm | Location:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Jim Farney (Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Yuki Tsuji (Tokai University)

This panel examines the characteristics of contemporary Japanese politics from a comparative perspective. Previous research has predominantly focused on the country’s electoral system. Much scholarly attention has been directed toward the reform that replaced the single non-transferable vote with multi-member districts system with a mixed electoral system emphasizing single-member districts, and to the political consequences of this institutional transformation. These studies have deepened our understanding of party competition, candidate recruitment, and legislative behavior. However, the distinctiveness of Japanese politics cannot be fully explained by electoral institutions alone. Other dimensions—social, historical, and transnational—continue to shape political processes and outcomes. This panel seeks to broaden the analytical scope of Japanese political studies by addressing three underexplored themes: local governance, democratic practice, and the experiences of Japanese Canadians. By engaging these perspectives, the panel aims to contribute to broader debates on how political institutions interact with social contexts, how democratic accountability operates at multiple levels of governance, and how transnational experiences illuminate Japan’s political development. Kato considers the theoretical possibility and empirical validity of “Semi-parliamentarism” through the case study of parliamentary politics in Japan and Australia. Kido examines intergovernmental relations between national and sub-national governments mediated through political parties in Japan and Canada. Nakamura collects and analyzes minutes from local assembly meetings nationwide, extracting and coding statements made by assembly members regarding the Hometown Tax system. Okada aims to trace the curious intersections among the Doukhobors, Japan, and Japanese Canadians, and to elucidate the shared experience of “internment” that links them.

Is Japanese and Australian Political System the New Types of Representative Democracy? The Theoretical Possibility and Empirical Validity of the Concept of “Semi-parliamentarism": Masatoshi Kato (Ritsumeikan University)
Abstract: This paper considers the theoretical possibility and empirical validity of “Semi-parliamentarism” through the case study of parliamentary politics in Japan and Australia. The concept of “semi-parliamentarism” is developed by Steffen Ganghof（2018, 2023）. To both overcome the duality such as strong/ weak bicameralism and parliamentarism/ presidentialism and find the own feature and dynamism, he develops this concept and characterizes it as the political system with following characteristics: 1]no popular elections of the chief executive, 2]the directly elected both assemblies, 3] the executive’s survival depends on the confidence of just one part of the assembly. He argues that this concept applies to Japan and Australia and suggests that legislature-centered majority formation is likely to occur in both countries as theoretical prediction. However, empirical studies of both countries show that legislature-centered majority formation does not always occur but is an exception. Why do theoretical predictions deviate? Based on the historical development of parliamentary politics in Japan and Australia, this paper shows that legislature-centered majority formation presupposes the political factors such as the stabilization of multi-party system and difficulty of majority control of the two major brocks in the Senate. In other words, while the concept of “semi-parliamentarism” has the theoretical values in locating the rare case such as Japan and Australia in the consistent framework of political system, its validity depends on the political institutions but also on other political factors such as actor constellations.

Intergovernmental Relations through Political Parties: A Comparative Study of Political Career Paths in Canada and Japan: Hideki Kido (Ritsumeikan University)
Abstract: This study examines intergovernmental relations between national and sub-national governments mediated through political parties in Japan and Canada. We address two central questions. First, do local party organizations serve as a source of recruitment for central politicians? Second, do party organizations function as channels through which influence flows from the local to the national level? In democratic systems, political parties are indispensable institutions that aggregate the interests of voters and social groups and transmit them into the policy-making process. Within the literature on intergovernmental relations, increasing attention has been directed toward the linkages between party organizations operating at different levels of government. Despite this growing interest, relatively little research has explored the political consequences of such multilevel party structures. The limited existing studies suggest that when party organizations are connected across levels, local interests can be articulated at the national level through partisan channels. However, this line of research has paid insufficient attention to the political implications of cases in which party organizations are institutionally or organizationally disconnected between levels. To address this gap, we conduct a comparative analysis of Japan and Canada—two cases that differ markedly in the degree of organizational integration between central and local party structures. While party organizations in Japan are vertically connected across levels of government, those in Canada are largely fragmented. By comparing these contrasting cases, the study aims to clarify how the structural configuration of party organizations shapes central–local relations and conditions the transmission of political influence between levels of government.

Legislative Responses to Inter-Municipal Competition: A Case Study of the “Hometown Tax” System: Etsuhiro Nakamura (Aichi Gakuin University)
Abstract: The Hometown Tax system in Japan allows taxpayers to freely choose municipalities other than their place of residence and make donations (in effect, tax payments) in exchange for return gifts. The system was designed to promote the transfer of financial resources from urban taxpayers to rural local governments, in line with the policy direction of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). When the system was first launched in 2008, participation by municipalities was limited. However, following the 2014 revision that raised the cap on deductible donations, the program experienced a nationwide boom. Many municipalities began to engage actively in the system, competing over the attractiveness of their return gifts and other promotional measures. The purpose of this study is to clarify how local assemblies responded to this Hometown Tax boom. It is commonly understood that Japanese local assemblies play only a secondary role in policymaking. This is largely due to institutional constraints: most assembly members lack dedicated staff, and assemblies do not have the authority to increase budget allocations, limiting their capacity to promote policy initiatives. Furthermore, local assembly members are often seen as representatives of specific local or sectoral interests, rather than as actors concerned with the municipality’s overall fiscal health or institutional policy challenges. At the same time, local assemblies possess a degree of oversight and checking power vis-à-vis the mayor. Even with respect to individual policies, assemblies can exert pressure through questions, resolutions, and other procedural means. Therefore, examining how assemblies responded to a policy such as the Hometown Tax—which intensified competition among municipalities—is crucial to evaluating their role in local governance. This study collects and analyzes minutes from local assembly meetings nationwide, extracting and coding statements made by assembly members regarding the Hometown Tax system. By doing so, it seeks to identify the perspectives (fiscal, regional economic, policy evaluation, etc.) from which assembly members discussed the system, the tone of their remarks (positive or negative), how these changed over time, and whether such discussions influenced actual municipal policy decisions.

When the Doukhobors Encounter “Japan”: Intersections with Japanese Canadians and the Reception of the Doukhobors in Japan: Kentaro Okada (Aichi University)
Abstract: Around 1900, the Doukhobors, who had emigrated from Russia to Canada, first settled in the middle east Saskatchewan. The Doukhobors, known as a heretical sect within Christianity, constituted a religious minority that left a striking impression due to the contrast between their uncompromising pacifism—which led them to reject all forms of violence and conflict—and their intense acts of protest once they perceived themselves as persecuted, such as staging nude demonstrations or burning their own homes. Surprisingly, the Doukhobors are connected to Japan in two distinct ways. When they emigrated from Russia to Canada, their relocation was financially supported by the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. At that time, Japan—where interest in Russian literature was at its peak—also showed considerable concern for the Doukhobors, and it is said that donations from Japan contributed to supporting their emigration project. The other connection between the Doukhobors and Japan lies in their curious relationship with Japanese Canadians in Canada. After clashing with the Saskatchewan provincial government over land ownership, the Doukhobors were expelled from the province and sought a new place of settlement in Castlegar, British Columbia. There, they encountered Japanese Canadians who had been forcibly relocated from the west coast and interned in the area during the war. In his autobiography, for instance, David Suzuki fondly recalls meeting a Doukhobor girl who treated him without any sense of prejudice or discrimination. This paper aims to trace the curious intersections among the Doukhobors, Japan, and Japanese Canadians, and to elucidate the shared experience of “internment” that links them. Specifically, it seeks to shed light on the lesser-known yet remarkable historical process connecting the internment of Japanese Canadians with the confinement of Doukhobor children in government-run residential schools.