Clean Government Party Research Articles

The Soka Gakkai Practice of Buppō and the Discourse on Religion in Japan

This paper investigates the Japanese Nichiren Buddhist organization, Soka Gakkai (SG), whose members have supported the political party known as Kōmeitō, or Clean Government Party, in Japan for over half a century. SG members have often been criticized as ‘impure’ political actors, undergoing frequent public questioning of their motivations for engaging in electoral politics in light of their ‘religious’ status. The paper shows how the SG members’ support for Kōmeitō at a qualitative level indeed transcends the typical demarcations of the ‘secular-religious’ binary system. However, they also simultaneously challenge the term ‘religion’ that has functioned as an ideology in the creation of statecraft and in their competition for legitimacy. The current paper is based on long-term fieldwork, extensive interviews, and doctrinal analyses that highlight how socially productive this discourse on religion has been. It also shows how a counter-episteme, rooted in Nichiren’s theory of the Risshō Ankoku Ron and the idea of kōsen-rufu, sought to bring a ‘Buddha’ consciousness to bear on individual and collective action as a model for alternative ‘politics’. Contrary to many claims, this did not entail contesting the modern institutional separation of ‘church’ and ‘state’, but is rather an attempt to find legitimacy for participating in ‘Japan-making’ in ways that cannot easily be understood or confined to explanations framed within the ‘religious-secular’ binary system.

The Liberal Democratic Party: Its adaptability and predominance in Japanese politics for 60 years

This article discusses the origin and continuity of the predominance of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japanese politics since the party’s formation in 1955. The LDP experienced two crises in its history, the first owing to the transformation of Japanese society by rapid economic development during the 1960–1970s, and the second due to the electoral reform in 1994 and the challenge from the Democratic Party of Japan thereafter. I argue that the LDP’s continuous success is attributable to its adaptability to new environments: the party overcame the first crisis by shifting the policy focus, reorganizing its support base and the party organization to achieve intraparty consensus. It coped with the second crisis by forming a coalition with the Clean Government Party and reforming the party’s presidential election and the ministerial post-allocation system. The article concludes with a summary and a brief discussion regarding the future of the LDP.

Sōka Gakkai and Politics in Japan

Sōka Gakkai, the largest of the so-called New Religions (shinshūkyō) in Japan, was founded in the 1930s by the educator Makiguchi Tsunesaburō1 and started its political involvement during the 1950s under its second president Toda Jōsei. Sōka Gakkai was not unique among new religions in being actively involved in politics after the Second World War; several other religious groups supported their candidates or joined political committees. However, Sōka Gakkai was the only religion in postwar Japan to found an independent political party that has established itself as an enduring presence in the Japanese electoral system. Indeed its political involvement culminated in the formation of the Kōmeitō (Clean Government Party), in 1964, renamed Shin Kōmeitō in 1998. This article surveys three issues concerning Sōka Gakkai’s political activities: the involvement of religious groups in political activities in the postwar period, the foundation of Kōmeitō and the group’s interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism regarding the relationship between religion and the state.

Japanese Conservatism and the Integration of Foreign Residents

AbstractGranting foreign permanent residents the right to vote in local elections in Japan was one of the Clean Government Party (CGP)'s major policy priorities during its 11 years governing in coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). While the CGP proposed several bills that would have done this, none of those bills came close to passing. Why not? Conventional wisdom about Japanese conservatism suggests that the LDP would not support such a bill because the party is uniformly committed to the idea that Japan is a one-ethnicity country, and thus the party is hostile to proposals that would grant those without Japanese ethnicity a role in Japanese society. However, I argue that Japanese conservatives in general, and LDP politicians in particular, have major disagreements about the appropriate role of foreign residents in Japanese society. Moreover, I argue that LDP politicians did not support the CGP's proposal to grant foreign permanent residents the right to vote in local elections in Japan because this proposal did not appeal to politicians from either of the dominant conservative schools of thought about foreign residents in Japan.

Japan's Search for Political Stability: The LDP-New Komeito Alliance

Research Article| November 01 1999 Japan's Search for Political Stability: The LDP-New Komeito Alliance Daniel A. Metraux Daniel A. Metraux Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1999) 39 (6): 926–939. https://doi.org/10.2307/3021146 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Daniel A. Metraux; Japan's Search for Political Stability: The LDP-New Komeito Alliance. Asian Survey 1 November 1999; 39 (6): 926–939. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/3021146 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAsian Survey Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1999 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The Komeito and Local Japanese Politics

THIS STUDY WAS undertaken as a preliminary survey of the Komei Party in Japanese local government with the aim of reaching some tentative conclusions about the party's potential for growth. It was motivated in part by a number of commonly expressed assumptions by political observers in and outside of Japan: (1) that the party has probably reached its peak; (2) that the Komeito is entirely dependent for its support upon its Buddhist parent body, the Soka Gakkai; (3) that the party's strength is confined to the large cities; and (4) that, while the leadership of the Komeito in the National Diet is politically astute, the local leadership of the party is of mediocre quality, below par in experience, education, and political sophistication. The Japanese Komeito or Clean Government Party, founded in 1964, has been a subject of considerable interest for a number of reasons, among them the party's rapid rise to national prominence and its often stated goal of becoming the leading party in the national government. Of no small interest and concern to many is the party's religious orientation, growing out of its close connection with the Soka Gakkai, a mass Buddhist lay organization. The Soka Gakkai (Value Creating Society) was founded in the 1930s and grew rapidly in the postwar years. It has today, according to various estimates, some 10 to 15 million mainly urban-based followers of the Japanese Buddhist Nichiren Sh6shfi sect. This sect, which claims to be the only true religion, promises happiness to all of its members. On its practical (as contrasted with its theological) side is the organization's perceived mission to strive for the creation of a perfect society in which true happiness is possible. This has led, through a highly organized group structure, to many endeavors of a self-realization and

The 1976 General Election in Japan

T HE DECEMBER 5, 1976, general election for the House of Representatives inJapan produced a number of outstanding results. Most important, it put an end to 21 years of dominance by the LiberalDemocratic Party (LDP) and has thus been hailed as the most significant of the thirteen general elections held since the end of World War II. Though the LDP with 249 seats failed to secure a majority in the 51 i-seat House, twelve conservative independents joined the party almost immediately after the election. With the death of Former Finance Minister Mikio Mizuta on December 22, I976, the LDP held 260 seats, only a four-seat majority. The second notable development was the poor showing of the two leftist parties-the Socialists and the Communists. The Japan Socialist Party (JSP), the largest opposition group, won I23 seats, a gain of just ii seats over its pre-election strength. On December 25 its strength became I24 seats when Mrs. Chiyose Chiba, runner-up to the deceased Mizuta, was declared the winner. The JSP suffered humiliating defeats of former party Chairmen Kozo Sasaki and Seiichi Katsumata and incumbent Vice-Chairman Saburo Eda. The Japan Communist Party (JCP) suffered a major setback, its strength plunging to I7, less than half its preelection strength of 39. Impressive gains by two moderate opposition groups-Komeito and the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP)marked a third salient feature of the election results. Komeito (Clean Government Party) made a spectacular comeback from its I972 election debacle, winning 55 seats compared to its pre-election strength of 30. The Democratic Socialists won 29 seats, an increase of io. The New Liberal Club (NLC), a spin-off of the LDP, also made a striking advance by capturing I7 seats, an increase of I2. There was a heavy turnover of established politicians in favor of a younger generation. It came as a particular shock to the Miki Government that three incumbent Cabinet ministers were ousted. The flexible attitude, clarified by both the JSP and JCP toward the Security Treaty with the U.S., ranks as another notable development of the

Recent Western Publications on Sōka GakkaiI Denounce Soka Gakkai. Hirotatsu Fujiwara , Worth C. GrantBuddhist Politics: Japan's Clean Government Party. Arvin PalmerSokagakkai and Education. Carl H. GrossMakiguchi: The Value Creator. Revolutionary Japanese Educator and Founder of Soka Gakkai. Dayle M. BethelThe Sokagakkai and Mass Society. James W. White

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewRecent Western Publications on Sōka Gakkai I Denounce Soka Gakkai. Hirotatsu Fujiwara , Worth C. Grant Buddhist Politics: Japan's Clean Government Party. Arvin Palmer Sokagakkai and Education. Carl H. Gross Makiguchi: The Value Creator. Revolutionary Japanese Educator and Founder of Soka Gakkai. Dayle M. Bethel The Sokagakkai and Mass Society. James W. White H. Byron EarhartH. Byron Earhart Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by History of Religions Volume 15, Number 3Feb., 1976 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/462747 Copyright 1976 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The Growth of a "Popular" Japanese Communist Party

OMMENTING ON THE RESULTS of the i969 General Election in which the Japan Communist (JCP) tripled its number of seats in the lower house, the late Liberal-Democratic (LDP) Vice-President, Shojiro Kawashima, predicted, seventies will be an era of confrontation between the LDP and the Japan Communist Party. The remark was quickly picked up by media and the JCP itself and has since gained wide currency. Although talk of LDP-JCP confrontation may appear premature, with the LDP at the beginning of I972 holding 299 seats in the 486 seat lower house compared to the JCP's I4 (or I5 if the Okinawan People's dietman is included), the JCP has been markedly increasing its influence among the Japanese as reflected in election results in recent years. It is one of two Japanese political parties that has been making constant and successful efforts to increase its electoral strength. The other is the Komeito (Clean Government Party), the polits-al arm of the militant Buddhist Soka Gakkai (Value Creation Society) and the JCP's arch-enemy. The initial policy of the JCP in the postwar period was laid down by Sanzo Nosaka and the party's Central Committee in i946 and remained the basic Communist policy until Cominform criticism in I950. The party sought to demonstrate its deep concern for the welfare of the masses and advanced the notion of a Communist Party engaged in peaceful revolution. In four years Nosaka's concept built an organization of ioo,ooo members and in the general election of i949 the Communists polled io percent of the total vote. The era of making the JCP lovable and attuned to Japanese nationalism ended abruptly, however, with the January i950 attack by Moscow, seconded by Peking, on Nosaka's tactics and the resultant line of ultra-leftist adventurism on which the party embarked. Membership and electoral support shriveled and the prewar image of a conspiratorial party controlled from abroad was revived. In the election which followed the violent I952 May Day demonstrations the party's strength in the lower house dropped from 35 seats to one. In I955 the party was allowed by Moscow and Peking to abandon this unrewarding strategy of militancy and outright violence that had been forced upon it be-

Buddhist Politics: Japan's Clean Government Party.

Buddhist Politics: Japan's Clean Government Party.

Socio-Economic Conditions and Party Politics in Japan: A Statistical Analysis of the 1969 General Election

L ven a cursory review of Japanese political development during the 1960s can attest to an unmistakable change in the complex interrelations of Japanese political parties. It seems clear that the relative position of the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP) has somewhat diminished in influence and that the pre-eminence of the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) has substantially dwindled among the progressive elements. At the same time each of the three minor parties-the Clean Government Party (CGP or Komeito), the Japan Communist Party (JCP), and the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) -has registered an appreciable increase in support during the latest national election held in December 1969. The LDP obtained less than a majority of the popular votes for the second time in 15 years and the JSP suffered a net loss of about 2.7 million votes and 50 seats in the 486-member House of Representatives. These electoral results not only repudiate the current possibility of a functional two-party system for Japan, but also challenge the viability of what Scalapino and Masumi have called a one-and-onehalf-party system.'1 An important question is whether the election results in any way reflect the increasingly affluent and pluralistic conditions of Japan's economic and social life. This article is designed to explore the relation between affluence and voting and to assess the relations between selected socio-economic variables as measured at prefectural levels and variations in party strength in the 1969 general-election vote for the House of Representatives. Japan is composed of 46 local administrative units: 42 ken, or

Foreign Policy Perspectives of the Japanese Left: Confrontation or Consensus?

THE IDEA THAT left and right wings in Japanese politics hold to diametrically opposed and irreconcilable positions on foreign policy is an old one which has led some observers to claim that the replacement of a Conservative by a Socialist would result in a cataclysmic change-amounting to a virtual revolution-in Japan's international policies. More recently, however, the dream of a bi-partisan (or multi-partisan) foreign policy, based on a about what Japan should be doing in a world newly receptive to her political as well as economic initiatives, has come to be discussed as a practicable proposition. Significantly enough, the creation of such a national consensus is an oft-stated aim of the Komeitd (the clean government party of the Soka Gakkai) and also clearly accords with the aspirations of many who inhabit the centre, rather than the extremes, of Japanese politics. Outside Japan, this development is encouraged by many, though there is the occasional pessimist who notes that national consensus was last achieved in Japan in the I930s, under the aegis of the militarists. Until i960, the only significant left-wing party in Japan was the Japan Socialist party (JSP), and it was the policies and views espoused by that party which distinguished the foreign policy of the Left so radically from that of the Right. Three main currents of opinion-socialism, pacifism, and nationalism-fused into a policy of unarmed which was bitterly denounced by Prime Minister Ikeda in the i960 election campaign as an illusion. Socialist thinking within the JSP was generally doctrinaire rather than pragmatic and resulted in a basic antipathy towards capitalist countries, especially the United States. Attempts to find an intellectual position midway between capitalism and communism tended to result in an unstable equilibrium, with the pull of socialism often proving stronger than the counter-pull of democracy. Thus, despite the claims of neutralism, criticism of the United States was both more frequent and more harsh than criticism of either the

Political Prospects of Soka Gakkai

W5 TITH ITS RIGID organizational hierarchy, its broad sociological base, and the fanatical devotion of its members, the Soka Gakkai (literally, Value Creation Society) has been able to make significant inroads into Japanese politics, thereby arousing the anxiety of many elements of Japanese society. Both Soka Gakkai and its political arm, Komeito (Clean Government Party) are enigmas. What makes Soka Gakkai difficult to assess as a religious body is that it has chosen to express itself through a political party. And what makes Komeito complex as a political entity is that it has religious roots in Soka Gakkai. Consequently, it has been labeled variously as ultranationalist, sacrilegious and fascist. To many Japanese it smacks of prewar state Shintoism and is thought of as a time bomb in Japanese society. In view of the forthcoming Lower House elections, in which Komeito will attempt to capture 32 seats, it seems important to arrive at an understanding of why Soka Gakkai is in politics, what its purposes are, and the likelihood of its continued success in the political arena. Theoretically, it may be argued that Soka Gakkai entered politics in order to fulfill the prophecy of the i3th century Buddhist teacher, Nichiren, and obtain obutsu myogo-a merger of government and religion.' Emerging as he did in the mappo period of Buddhism, when all was despair, Nichiren proclaimed himself the true Buddha. His messianic desire to spread his teachings throughout the world was not unlike the philosophical foundation of Komeito's political platform as outlined in its official publication, Toward Mass Welfare: Policies of the Komeito. Its goal is the building of a new international environment based on chikyu minzoku shugi (oneworldism).2 To facilitate this, Nichiren Shoshu, the Buddhist Sect to which Soka Gakkai is attached, had intended to solicit the aid of the Emperor, who himself was to be eventually converted.3 But since the Emperor was stripped of his powers after the war, it became apparent that he would not be able to help, and, as a result, the Soka Gakkai has turned to the National Diet as a means of achieving this aim. An editorial in the Seikyo Shimbun, the organization's newspaper, has bluntly stated that it is the intention of Soka Gakkai to obtain a majority in both houses and then make Nich-