The New Japanese Election System

Abstract

ESPITE the promise of bold and innovative action, doubts are increasing as to whether the recent upheavals in Japanese politics will actually transform government and politics in Japan. When the coalition of Liberal Democratic party (LDP) renegades and opposition parties ousted the LDP from power in mid-1993, they made electoral reform their first and most important legislative priority. The reforms they passed in 1994 became the most significant legislative accomplishment of the first post-LDP government, yet will these reforms actually transform Japanese politics as promised? It is claimed that these new electoral rules will change the way parties are organized, the flow of campaign funds, the scandal-ridden nature of Japanese politics, and the relevance of policies and issues in campaigns.' Many have assumed that the new electoral system will cause the emergence and maintenance of two moderate political parties that will alternate in power. Even grander speculations have been made about the entire reformist agenda. Some suggest thatJapan's new political leaders will usher in a new era of less bureaucratic and more democratic politics. The leaders of this more efficient government will rescue the long-suffering Japanese consumer, improve the frayed nature of U.S.-Japan relations, and create a modern Japan that will revise its anachronistic ban on the maintenance or use of military force.2 Other observers have been quick to take an opposite and extreme position that no real changes were occurring. In contrast to both approaches, those with a more careful and studied perspective ofJapan have been more reticent to draw grand conclusions about the permanent changes in the Japanese political landscape.3 In this latter perspective, I will review and