Politics in Postwar Japanese Society

The rapid social changes which have been occu rring in Japan over the past several decades have given the society vast new resources fo r po tential social develop­ment. At the same time, however, the rapid ity of social change has resulted in contrad ictions and strains in every aspect of Japanese socie ty-s trains such as those in the polit­ical arena which were illuminated by the 19 76 disclosures of large­ scale bribery of Japanese government officials by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. The Japanese social fa bric has been fa mous (or notorious) fo r being stro ngly iden tified with the past. When a nation is faced with rapid changes, this social continu ity can be a source of con trad i ction and strain on the one hand, but on the other hand it can strengthen the society's ability to absorb change and utilize new resources.
This book is a collection of ess ays written over a period of nearly ten years . They variously describe the present-day Japanese polit­ical system and its historical background, explore patterns of particip ation within the system, and discuss political attitudes toward and relationships with the nations of Asia and the rest of the world . Underlying all these ess ays is the common theme of change, with its concomitant strains and potentialities, and con­tinuity in Japanese politics and society.