Japanese Government Officials Research Articles

A Study on the Connection between Samurai Tradition and Japanese Imperialism

The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between Japan’s samurai (侍) tradition and imperialistic aspiration. The samurai tradition, which originated in Japan’s Shintoism, was derived from ancient Korean Shinkyo’s Nanga thought (郎家思想). Samurai are descended from the ancient Korean Shinto tradition of Samshirang (三侍郞), which was revealed to worship of three gods. The samurai tradition promotes Japanese nationalism and has ties to collectivism and emperor veneration. In addition to the deification of the Japanese emperor, samurai and sanctuaries with religious functions were used as imperial expansion tools. Beginning with the samurai administration of the Kamakura Shogunate (鎌倉幕府) in 1185, the samurai tradition, which stresses strict command, obedience, and collectivism, dominated Japanese society for seven hundred years. Long samurai rule had profound influences on Japanese society’s order, hierarchy, groups, honor, collectivism, and identity. The Meiji government, a modern system that began with the end of the samurai regime, elevated the Japanese emperor to the status of a divine being and a living deity, recognizing obedience and worship as a natural obligation. As a means of expanding Japanese imperialism, the samurai spirit with the deified Japanese emperors as the center pawned suicide commandos such as the kamikaze (神風), which can be considered the modern concept of samurai, and the ‘human torpedo’, kaiten (回天). Japan continues to demand constitutional amendments to the ‘Peace Constitution,’ which was enacted as a result of its defeat in World War II, and mandates visits to the Yasukuni Shinsa, which enshrines war criminals and high-ranking Japanese government officials. Neighboring nations may perceive Japan’s actions as a resurgence of imperialistic aspirations; therefore, a mature appearance that can contribute to world peace is required.

National Belonging and the Production of Neglect in the Japanese Repatriate Figure, 1945–1950

Abstract This article analyses the discourse of national belonging produced by the Japanese government. After Japanese empire collapsed in August 1945, hikiagesha (‘repatriate’) was the term officials used to categorise approximately 3.2 million Japanese civilians in the colonies when Japan surrendered. Previous research suggests a repatriate figure emerged in postwar Japan so that non-repatriate Japanese could offload anxieties about imperial failure. Consequently, the repatriate figure was important for Japan to transition from an empire to a nation-state. This article reassesses this transition which in previous research seems to be almost a natural outcome of decolonisation. Starting from the premise that such transitions require the active involvement of specific actors, this article examines how Japanese government officials constructed a discourse of national belonging around the repatriate figure to assuage concerns about state affiliation. It then considers the effects of this discourse on the Japanese ‘extruded history’ of former colonial residents.

A Review of Climate Security Discussions in Japan.

This review paper provides preliminary analysis and answers to three key questions that were identified by synthesizing qualitative evidence from climate security research in Japan. The questions identified are: (1) Has Japan participated in the global climate security debate at all? (2) Why did climate security struggle to become a major political theme in Japan until 2020? (3) Why did Japan explicitly start dealing with climate security as a policy issue in 2020? We identify and discuss four key reasons relative to the second question. The review provides key details (and general parameters) of these questions that have been overlooked by not only Japanese researchers but also climate security research conducted between 2017 and 2022 in Europe and the United States. Climate security suddenly became a trending topic among Japanese researchers and political elites in 2020; we find evidence that future studies could provide important and more robust insight if an analysis of the above questions is supported by interview data obtained from Japanese government officials. In doing so, researchers will be able to provide valuable insight into the possibility (and extent) that inter-ministerial rivalry between key ministries has impeded domestic progress on climate security action. Furthermore, three separate projects on climate security have been commissioned and recently implemented in Japan. These form the basis for this first systematic literature review of 34 papers and the related research reports resulting from these projects. These papers and reports were retrieved from the electronic databases of Google Scholar, ProQuest, and the National Institute for Environmental Studies in April 2022. While the main limitation of this review paper is that readers are expected to connect these questions to their own experiences at the global level, we reduce the possibility of presenting biased information by identifying and verifying missing details. For example, we had difficulty identifying the method used in one of the co-authored papers and contacted the corresponding author. In summary, sustained discussion in academia and high-politics settings should eventually lead to a greater awareness about climate security.

In memory of future earthquakes: Controversial new form and function of a commemorative statue in 1920s Tokyo

Earthquake memorials dot the Japanese archipelago, marking its long history of destructive tremors. Today, many of these memorials are designed to serve the dual purpose of commemorating victims, and educating future generations. Almost a hundred years ago, however, this idea that a commemorative statue could also serve as a pedagogical tool proved to be novel and controversial. This article focuses on a case study of a memorial dubbed the Statue of Sadness. First unveiled to the public in 1929, the life-like figures of twelve children provoked an outcry. By exploring the conflicting hopes and expectations from the perspective of different stakeholders, I highlight the complicated issues surrounding earthquakes, commemoration, and children. I argue that the new form and function of the statue reflected the emerging desire of Japanese educators and government officials to educate future generations about the risk of earthquakes by reminding them about the tragic deaths of children, not to comfort bereaved families as many hoped. These issues are relevant today for communities endeavouring to construct memorials in order to save lives in the future.

‘Comfort women must fall’? Japanese governmental responses to ‘comfort women’ statues around the world

This article examines Japanese governmental responses to memorial statues dedicated to ‘comfort women’ – women across the Asia-Pacific whom the Japanese military forced into conditions now recognised as sexual slavery before and during World War Two. This article discusses four cases around the world in which Japanese government officials have demanded the removal of comfort women statues: 1) Glendale, California; 2) San Francisco; 3) Manila; and 4) Berlin. The global expansion of comfort women memorialisation is significant to contemporary statue politics and crises of memory in three ways. Firstly, East Asian diasporas have become important actors in the remembrance of Japanese colonialism and the Asia-Pacific War outside East Asia. Secondly, these statues constitute attempts by diasporas to recover and reclaim a traumatic past through material culture. Thirdly, despite the global geographical reach of comfort women memory activism, neither nationalism nor the power of the nation-state have declined in today’s transnational world.

미일 교섭의 개시 - 미일 양해안의 성립과 미 국무부 관료들의 대응 -

In 1940, when France surrendered in Germany and the transition of World War II was greatly changed, the Japanese government tried to contributes to the victory of the German war through the Tripartite Pact, and to establish dominance to the whole East Asian region. The most important challenge for this was the solution of the Sino-Japanese War. Japan tried to keep Japan-China Basic Relations Treaty, and wanted to maintain political and economic dominance in the China continent after the end of the Sino-Japanese War. Meanwhile, the US government cooperated with the British, engaged in European battlefield to respond to the threat of Germany in the Atlantic Ocean, and they established a war plan to defeat Germany. In addition to Germany, the United States was prepared for the attacks of Japan, and established concurrent war performance plans over the Atlantic and Pacific, and shared it with the UK.<BR> Japan-US relationships were deteriorated by Tripartite Pact, a Military Alliance for the purpose of attack America, and America’s selecting the support for China and the strengthening of economic sanctions against Japan. In such a situation, American and Japanese people who have felt a sense of crisis are promoted between the intergovernmental dialogue for the Japan and US, and such efforts made US-Japan appreciation document established and Japan-US negotiations start. The John Doe Associates, a semi-official and a semi-civillian organization wrote US-Japan appreciation document. It shows that Japan will reduce the possibility of attacking US by she interprets Triparite Pack more generously. In order to solve the Sino-Japanese war problem, the US Government will promise to cooperate Japanese government, so she can maintain paramount status in the continental China. Most of the Japanese government officials were satisfied with the document, but the Matsuoka Yosuke Foreign Minister, who thought the Tripartite Pact is critical for Japan’s future, denied this ‘give-and-take’ proposal.<BR> Meanwhile, the bureaucrats in the Division of Far Eastern Affairs, thought that the expansion of Japan

Return migration after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster: the impact of institutional and individual factors.

This paper explores two groups of factors, individual and institutional, that have influenced return migration since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan on 11 March 2011. Based on an analysis of statistical data on evacuees, a questionnaire completed by 289 people who migrated, and 19 semi-structured interviews with disaster-affected people, the research found (apropos of institutional factors) that while the lifting of the government's evacuation order has had no immediate effect on return decisions, the termination of monetary compensation and housing subsidies has had a significant bearing on them. As for individual factors, a strong sense of attachment to home and the possession of property, job obligations, and having family members in the home location are key determinants of return decisions. Moreover, the paper suggests that there could be differing opinions among Japanese government officials and evacuees regarding radiation exposure risk and the degree to which infrastructure and social services have been rehabilitated.

Expert Qualifications in Japan: The Role of Higher Education

The goal of this paper was to explore the directions for a Japanese Qualifications Framework (JQF) through the collationof Japanese Government expert viewpoints.This study used a qualitative case study design involving interviews with 15 Japanese government officials. It was foundthat Japan continues to haveproblems with academic degrees and licensing framework and system. Many Japanese government experts believed that Japan needed a qualifications framework and system that could function both domestically and internationally, however, Japan has an insufficient qualifications framework and system which has led to weak competitiveness for Japanese experts. To resolve these issues, a Japanese qualifications system needs (1) to have pathways toward higher skill levels from work-based experience to higher education and (2) to broaden pathways allowing for the transfer of Japanese domestic qualifications to international framework qualifications.It is concluded that to build these pathways, National Qualifications Framework is needed as a common language and a basic framework to make the qualifications more transparent and to align domestic and international qualification standards. The Japanese government should enter into a discussion about JQF seriously with stakeholders in education, industry, and government with the aim of improving higher education programs for experts to ensure domestic and international competitiveness.

“THREE LEAGUES AWAY FROM A HUMAN COLOUR”: NATSUME SOSEKI IN LATE-VICTORIAN LONDON

Natsume Soseki arrived in Londonin October 1900, with great expectations, both his own and those of the Japanese government officials who sponsored his scholarship to study abroad for two years. Soseki would eventually become one of the most important figures in modern Japanese literature, featured on Japan's 1000-yen note from 1984 to 2004; before he wrote the novels that earned him such fame – includingI Am a Cat(1906),And Then(1910), andKokoro(1914) – Soseki, who was then a young English teacher in the Japanese provinces, was sent to study English language and literature as part of Japan's large-scale modernization and westernization efforts, following the “opening” of Japan to the West by Commodore Matthew Perry in 1854 and the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Soseki's London sojourn coincided with the peak of British imperial might and also Japan's emergence as a world power. Soseki witnessed numerous important historical events as the Victorian era drew to a close, including the return of troops from the second Boer War and Queen Victoria's funeral procession. Following the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95, Japan won major financial and territorial concessions from China, a sign of Japan's new military power and ambition. Indeed, much of the funding for the “rapid expansion of the Japanese higher education system” came from these war reparations that “essentially bankrupted the Chinese government, hastening the downfall of the Qing Dynasty and the Sino-centric order in Asian culture. . . . Soseki's journey to London – metropole of the British Empire – was part and parcel of the geopolitical rise of one empire and the fall of another” (Bourdaghs, Ueda, and Murphy 4). Questions of empire and the relative strength of nations were very much on Soseki's mind during his time in London. During what was then a fifty-day journey by sea from Japan to England, “all ports between Yokohama and Marseilles were under British, French, or Dutch rule” (Hirakawa 171).

Academy of devotion

In the late 1990s, Japan was experiencing an economic recession combined with an unrelenting stagnated birth rate; Japanese people and government officials called for men to increase their participation in domestic duties and life. Amid this outcry, an all-male reality TV comedy programme debuted: Junj? Gakuen Otokogumi (Academy of Devotion: Men’s Team) regaled late-night audiences with men being stereotypically masculine and hilarious. This article focuses specifically on two of the participants’ linguistic and physical behaviours in this TV programme. The two men are famous Kansai-based comedians, but act as high school teachers in the programme. The programme, I argue, provides a counternarrative to the national movement towards a softer masculinity that engages in domestic duties and delivers, instead, the kind of stereotypical masculinity associated with hegemonic salaryman ideology.

Education and Training Japanese Government Officials: Current Trends and Policy Study Aspects

We explain the recruiting and promoting system for high-level Japanese government officials showing the trend of numbers of applicants for the recruitment examination, those who passed the examination, and also those who were employed by some ministries in the last 17 years. We describe the major characteristics of the promotion system for Japanese government officials. Educating and training Japanese government officials in the area of policy studies have been conducted in both university schools, governmental training centers, governmental schools and colleges. An education and training system for government officials needs to be developed so that each government official is equipped with a certain specialty and expertise. A formal system for evaluating individuals and programs has not been common in Japan, especially for evaluating individual work and contribution. We need to “invent” an evaluation system that will make the government officials’ decision-making system work more efficiently. Public and private universities, in particular, have been very active in creating many policy-related schools and departments in the last 20 years. Policy studies, which have been conducted in various schools in the university and government research institutes, are described in detail with their objectives, curriculums, and requirements.

Continuing Professional Education for Japanese Government Officials: Study Destinations and Motivational Factors

The Japanese government's Continuing Professional Education (CPE) programs have sent officials to graduate and professional schools in Japan and abroad. This research examines the destination choice patterns of CPE participants and the reasons they choose Japanese or U.S. universities. Interviews with CPE participants suggested that U.S. schools attracted Japanese government officials by offering a wider range of courses emphasizing the integration of theory and practice. Boshier's motivational orientation model was applied to better understand CPE motivations and reasons. Notably, no participant identified “social welfare” as an important motivator, but “employment benefit” and “upgrading personal market value” factors emerged.

Learning experiences and gains from continuing professional education and their applicability to work for Japanese government officials

This study aims to understand the perceived learning experiences and gains for Japanese government officials from US and Japanese graduate and professional schools, and how applicable their continuing professional education (CPE) is to professional performance. Interview participants were drawn from long-term overseas and domestic fellowship programs within the government's National Personnel Authority. Human capital theory and Ottoson's situated evaluation framework were applied for the analysis of 30 purposefully selected interviews. The officials from the overseas program reported more diverse and positive outcomes in cognitive, social, and affective domains as well as networking opportunities from their experiences than those from the domestic program. The interviews, however, revealed a loose linkage between CPE participants' outcomes and their subsequent work.

Transforming healthcare with information technology in Japan: A review of policy, people, and progress

Purpose Healthcare reform as part of the economic recovery plan in Japan is placing emphasis on the use of healthcare information technology (HIT). This research mainly focuses on the HIT efforts in Japan with reference to the US for context. The purpose is to: (a) provide detail on governmental policy impacting promotion of HIT adoption to provide services to the people of Japan, (b) describe the outcomes of past and present policy impacting progress based on a case study of HIT use in the Kyoto Yamashina area, and (c) discuss issues for refinement of current policy. Methods The method is case study, and data collection techniques include: (a) interviews of people involved in policy making for HIT in Japan (Japanese healthcare professionals, government officials, and academics involved in HIT research in Japan) and use in the medical community of HIT in the Kyoto Yamashina area, (b) archived document analysis of reports regarding government policy for HIT policy and user assessment for HIT mainly in the case study site, and (c) the literature review about HIT progression and effectiveness assessments to explore and describe issues concerning the transformation with HIT in Japan. Results This study reveals the aspects of governmental policy that have been effective in promoting successful HIT initiatives as well as some that have been detriments in Japan to help solve pressing social issues regarding healthcare delivery. For example, Japan has stipulated some standardized protocols and formats for HIT but does not mandate exactly how to engage in inter-organizational or intra-organizational health information exchange. This provides some desired autonomy for healthcare organizations and or governments in medical communities and allows for more advanced organizations to leverage current resources while providing a basis for lesser equipped organizations to use in planning the initiative. The insights gained from the Kyoto Yamashina area initiative reflect the success of past governmental policy efforts and the current intent to promote HIT adoption. Insights from the case study as well as other social issues facing Japan warrant some refinement of policy. The refinement concerns: (a) the necessity for leadership and IT knowledge in the medical communities, (b) provider incentives, (c) legislation regarding accountability, security, privacy and confidentiality, (d) inclusion of stakeholders in solution development, and (e) creating sustainable business models. Conclusion The research highlights the efforts of Japan for using HIT in healthcare reform. We present outcomes from a case study of the Kyoto Yamashina area medical community as proof of concept for past and present policy in Japan that are insightful for proliferation of successful projects in Japan and adoption of HIT in general.

The Mystery of Emperor Kojong’s Sudden Death in 1919: Were the Highest Japanese Officials Responsible?

Emperor Kojong died suddenly in January 1919. Immediately, rumors circulated widely that he had been poisoned by the Japanese, and wall posters to that effect appeared throughout Seoul. The people who gathered to mourn Kojong’s death engaged in peaceful demonstrations, which served as the impetus of the March First Movement in Korea. The Japanese authorities never investigated the cause of Kojong’s sudden death, which has remained a mystery to this date. There is strong evidence that he was poisoned. Moreover, Princess Masako, a daughter-in-law of Kojong, testifies in her autobiography that Japanese government officials gave a secret instruction to poison him. Consistent with her testimony, there is an allegation in Kuratomi Yūzaburō’s diary that Terauchi Masatake and Hasegawa Yoshimichi may have been behind the crime. Our review of the evidence strongly supports the allegation that the highest Japanese officials were behind the poisoning of Emperor Kojong.

Patterns of War Reconciliation in Japan and Germany. A Comparison

War reconciliation and cultures of memory themes continue to receive high attention but despite the long list of newly released books praising Germany which has been thought to be more prone to experience guilt and from it ensuing war responsibility for its past than the Japanese nation in the aftermath of World War Two [46], the long shadows of the past are still prevailing in both countries. Even if Germany scores better then Japan from a comparative perspective this does not mean that Germany has internally resolved the problems related to its past once and for all. Yet, the slave labor compensation legislation in Germany which was meant to definitely settle the accounts with the past has shown that lasting war reconciliation is possible. The unwillingness of Japanese Government officials to admit past wrongdoings, to apologize for coerced war prostitution and to refuse to compensate former slave laborers has put Japan on the frontline of international criticism. The claim that Japan as a nation has not learned from history is critically re-assessed against the backdrop of bottom up NGO reconciliation activities and lawmaker efforts to enact legislation aimed at resolving the comfort women issue. In contrast to conventional explanations it is argued that different circumstances, influenced by distinct historical and political factors in each country, resulted in different approaches. In Germany the social protest movements led to the institutional birth of the Green Party. The Greens initiated the reconciliation process for former slave laborers and changed the political landscape from the bottom. In Japan the social protest movements did not succeed to settle as a novel political force. Thoughtlessness, ignorance, conspiracy of silence, “double victimization” stigma, “negative pacifism” and the reluctance to address the war guilt issue prevented a public discussion. It is then sought to answer the question: Why do people repress or deny past wrongdoings despite knowing the facts? It is looked at how consecutive generations in Germany and Japan have coped with guilt and shame feelings in different ways. The article concludes that war reconciliation similar to restorative justice is an ongoing, never-ending process. The emotional part of reconciliation which goes far beyond words of apology, judicial punishment or monetary compensation and does not necessarily lead always to positive outcomes is given particular attention. Ways of civil society bottom-up reconciliation in Germany and Japan are explored.

Nationalisms of and Against Zainichi Koreans in Japan

The North Korean association in Japan, Chongryun, which lacks independence from the North Korean regime, has preoccupied itself with political activities in its “home” country. It has created and intensified long‐distance nationalism among its members. Conservative Japanese government officials view North Korean long‐distance nationalists as a threat to Japan's national security and regional peace on the Korean peninsula. Meanwhile, certain Japanese have reacted with acts of violence and intimidation against them. For these Japanese reactive nationalists, the perceived enemy or threat from North Korea is located inside Japan itself, in the form of Chongryun. These North Korean long‐distance nationalists and Japanese reactive nationalists are creating an uncomfortable environment for North Koreans in Japan, who increasingly embrace an ideology of diasporic nationalism, or an independent existence from both their homeland and host society.

Educating and Training Japanese Government Officials: Current Trends and Policy Study Aspects

We explain the recruiting and promoting system for high-level Japanese government officials showing the trend of numbers of applicants for the recruitment examination, those who passed the examination, and also those who were employed by some ministries in the last 17 years. We describe the major characteristics of the promotion system for Japanese government officials. Educating and training Japanese government officials in the area of policy studies have been conducted in both university schools, governmental training centers, governmental schools and colleges. An education and training system for government officials needs to be developed so that each government official is equipped with a certain specialty and expertise. A formal system for evaluating individuals and programs has not been common in Japan, especially for evaluating individual work and contribution. We need to “invent” an evaluation system that will make the government officials’ decision-making system work more efficiently. Public and private universities, in particular, have been very active in creating many policy-related schools and departments in the last 20 years. Policy studies, which have been conducted in various schools in the university and government research institutes, are described in detail with their objectives, curriculums, and requirements.

KyungSung(京城) in the 1910s shown in the periodical 『Joseon and Manchuria』

KyungSung was a city with a population of 170 thousand Japanese inhabitants in the year of 1910 under the rule of Japan. As you can see in the number, many Japanese lived in KyungSung at that time with Korean. The study about the lives in the city is the theme in the spotlight these days, but that of using documents left by Japanese is not that active.<BR> In this situation, I would like to direct our notice to the Japanese magazine『 Joseon and Manchuria』. That periodical was founded in 1908 by Shakuo Ikuo(釋尾旭邦). a Japanese who had been living in Korea, and had been published until January in 1941. In total, 398 volumes had been published. Considering the duration, though it was written from the point of Japanese, it is a noticeable and essential material to understand the process of the changes of living conditions and peoples’ values, and daily lives under the rule of Japanese.<BR> As the first step in the study of 『Joseon and Manchurian』, I have researched what the scene of KyungSung was like and the lives of Korean and Japanese in KyungSung, focusing on the articles of the magazine in the 1910s. The result is as follows.<BR> By contrasting the uncivilizedness of Korea and the prosperity of the Japanese settlements, the record of travel written by a Japanese, an article of the magazine in those days, took pride in Japan being a civilized imperialist power which colonized Korea.<BR> What is noticeable from the point of the periodical is continuously bringing up the inequality between the classes, that of the ruling class against the general citizens. In this context the magazine gave a full account of the lives of the lower-class Japanese living in KyungSung in the 1910s It introduced the lives of unemployed vegabonds, Joseon Nyoubo(Japanese women who had relations with Japanese man, while staying in Joseon), singing and dancing girls, licensed prostitutes, taking pity upon them. On the other hand the periodical criticized the privileges of Japanese government officials, Japanese millionaires, and their vanity with luxurious habits.<BR> 『Joseon and Manchuria』charged, first of all, evil practices and misconducts of the nobility of Joseon. Besides that the magazine called Korean ‘Yobo’ meaning slyness, laziness, cold-heartedness, arrogance, self-interest, lack of public spirit. The word included all the uncivilizedness. It showed one side of the period with biased imperialistic views. Thirdly the magazine tried to suggest blueprints of ‘assimilation’, by introducing the examples of marriages by the peoples from the two countries, and showing the exchange of popculture and mixed use of the two languages.<BR> Thus 『Joseon and Manchuria』shows that KyungSung in the 1910s appeared to be modern, but had a growing conflicts by the two peoples and classes. It means that Japan was discharging its contradictions at KyungSung in those days. Though the Japanese officials thought ‘the principle of assimilation’ impossible at that time, Shakuo’s belief in western civilization and his hope for making Korean Japanese shows one side of the utopia which Japanese in Korea dreamed in modern times.

Building Institutional Capacity in Southeast Asia: Regional Governed Interdependence

I. Introduction The Japanese nation-state has created regionwide in association with the nation-states in Southeast Asia. Japanese government officials, perhaps particularly from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), renamed the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Trade (METI) in 2001, consider that a close government-business relationship facilitates more rapid economic than the laissez-faire market system. The literature on the focuses on policies. However, the essence of the can be seen not only in the domestic matter of industrializing or restructuring industry, but also in the international strategy of the state. This study argues that the Japanese nation-state has been building institutional capacity in Southeast Asia to foster, in effect, the regionalization of the Japanese developmental or a interdependence of the Japanese state, ASEAN member states and Japanese capital throughout the region. In so doing, the Japanese governmentbusiness relationship has taken the initiative, particularly in developing small- and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) within Southeast Asia, in transferring technology selectively, fostering human resource and expanding and elaborating physical infrastructure. The regionalization of Japanese production networks has been simultaneously a project of developing institutional and technical capacities under the guidance of the Japanese and capital. This study begins with identifying the concepts of the developmental state and interdependence in East Asia. A second issue to be examined is the form of expansion of interdependence in Southeast Asia. A committee known as AEM-MITI/METI Economic and Industrial Co-operation Committee (AMEICC), the joint product of the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) and MITI/METI will be represented as an exemplar of the regionalization of governed interdependence, and as an illustration of how this and its implications are to be understood in politico-economic terms. II. Governed Interdependence in East Asian Developmental States Developmental theorists (or statists) stress the importance of guidance and intervention in economic development. They argue that the remarkable aspects of Northeast Asian industrialization, in particular that of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, were brought about not by market forces but by the role of the in cooperation with private capital. Development was achieved by management of the market, industrial strategies, public investment, and export strategies reflecting state-business co-operation. The notion of the was articulated by Chalmers Johnson (1982) and adopted by Amsden (1989), Wade (1990), and Weiss and Hobson (1995), among others. Johnson's contribution was to raise an alternative explanation of economic to that being purveyed by the American-dominated development economics literature of the time. In Johnson's perspective, Japan's performance challenges that of the AngloAmerican free economies and also challenges claims made for the capacities of socialist economies. In regard to the state-business relationship in the states, Johnson (1999, p. 60) mentioned that [t]he concept developmental state means that each side uses the other in a mutually beneficial relationship to achieve goals and enterprise viability. When the is working well, neither the officials nor the civilian enterprise managers prevail over the other. The government-business relationship in East Asia has been more institutionalized than that of other nations. Weiss and Hobson have subsequently described the mutually beneficial relationship as the interdependence of and business (Weiss and Hobson 1995; Weiss 1995 and 1998). …