6.4 reed political corruption in japan

Political corruption in Japan

Steven R. Reed
With Ieiri Tomonori, Okumura Mutsuko, Rokkaku Koji, Tabata Shuichi,
Tabira Kenji, and Takeuchi Masao

Japan is a confusing country of contrasting and cult topic for comparative politics. Most obvi-
shifting images. Ask any expert whether Japan ously, it is impossible to collect accurate data
is modern or traditional, peace-loving or war- on illegal activities. What we know about cor-
like, or any other pair of opposites, and not only ruption tends to come from scandals. A scandal
is he likely to present an image contradicting allows us to peek beneath the surface of politics
that of many other experts, but the currently through a particular incident that has for some
dominating image is likely to be quite different reason become public, but there is no reason
from that of only ten or twenty years ago. to think that the data provided by scandals is
The image of corruption in Japan follows this unbiased or representative. Moreover, com-
confusing pattern as well. parative politics has yet to reach a consensus
Some portray Japan as on the definition of corrup-
run by an efficient, elite tion, though I will follow
Steven R. Reed is Professor of Modern
and essentially incorruptible Government at the Faculty of Policy the Gibbons' (1993) lead in
bureaucracy, the Germany Studies, Chuo University, 742-1 Higashi- labelling as corrupt any
of the East. Others paint a nakano, Hachioji City, Tokyo 192-03, behaviour that, if it were to
picture of a government and Japan. His current research focuses on become public knowledge,
society riddled with personal Japanese elections and electoral systems.
would lead to a scandal.
His recent publications include Making
connections, factions and Common Sense of Japan (1993) and This definition is attitudinal
corruption, the Italy of the Japan Election Data: The House of and implies that an act
East. The German image Representatives, 1947-1990 (1992). might be corrupt in some
dominated in the 1960s dur- times and places but not cor-
ing the era of high economic rupt in others. Comparative
growth but recent revelations studies of corruption are
and events make the Italian often stymied by cultural
comparison seem much more variation: scandalous
appropriate. Of course, behaviour in one country
these images are more likely to reflect recent might be considered normal in another.
media coverage than the results of careful aca- The second reason why this can be no more
demic studies, so the images may not accurately than a preliminary study is that the literature
reflect the reality of corruption in Japan, Germany on Japanese political corruption is, as yet, lim-
or Italy. The purpose of this article is to present ited. We have many excellent journalistic and
some information on political corruption in Japan historical accounts but most focus, quite under-
in a preliminary attempt to describe the type standably, on criticism of the situation in Japan
and extent of such corruption in a comparative and recommendations for reform. While these
perspective. are laudable purposes, comparisons that are
The attempt will be preliminary for two designed to find lessons that might help the
reasons. First, corruption is an extremely diffi- cause of political reform in Japan seldom result

!SS.I 149/1996 ©UNESCO 1996. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road. Oxford OX4 IJF. UK and 238 Main Street, Cambridge. MA 02142. USA.

Copyright© 2001. All Rights Reserved.

396 Steven R. Reed

TABLE 1. US and Japanese attitudes towards corruption ing. The only significant difference is that some
US Japan
Americans are concerned about politicians'
drinking and sexual conduct, leaving somewhat
What is the biggest ethical problem in politics?
fewer worried about money. The greater num-
Money 54% 62% ber of Japanese worried about money in politics
Lying 33% 35%
Alcohol 7% 0% may be due to the timing of the poll, in the
Sex 4% 0% midst of reporting on the Recruit scandal. The
greater number of Americans worried about sex
Does money unduly influence elections? and alcohol should probably be attributed to
Yes 84% 82% the influence of Puritanism. In contrast to Bri-
Do companies that contribute to campaigns have tain and the United States, Japan and France
undue influence? have few sex scandals, but the Japanese attitudes
Yes 81% 86% towards money in politics and the propensity
of politicians to lie are broadly similar to those
Source: Asahi Shinbun, 11 May 1989 found in the 'West'.
Though not directly related to political cor-
ruption, some information about the attitudes
in balanced descriptions of political corruption. of Japanese businessmen concerning unfair busi-
Since one cannot learn lessons from those worse ness practices comes from a survey of students
off than oneself, comparisons are chosen that taking MBA executive courses in Japan, the
put Japan in a particularly bad light. In fact, United States and Germany. These business
corruption studies in all countries tend to find students were asked about the 'fairness' prac-
that 'our' country is a particularly bad example. tices often considered 'unwestern' and peculiarly
I strongly suspect that Japanese scholars are Japanese. Again the most notable result was
particularly prone to compare themselves to an the similarity among businessmen in all three
imaginary 'western' standard that is not met by nations. The differences that were found were
any actual western nation. not large and the East-West pattern of Japan
As scholars we are caught in the dilemma differing from Germany and the United States
that, without criticism, things will not get better, was no more common than any other pattern
but criticism alone will not produce the scientific (Endo, 1992).
and comparative analyses necessary for under- Finally, a preliminary analysis of the
standing the fundamental causes of corruption. response of the Japanese electorate to corrup-
This article will take a comparative viewpoint tion charges found more similarities than differ-
and attempt to be as scientific and objective as ences between the United States and Japan
possible. (Reed, 1994). For example, American voters
re-elect 75 per cent of their scandal-tainted
incumbents while the Japanese voters re-elect
Corruption and culture in 60 per cent of theirs.
Japan The attitude of Japanese citizens towards
political corruption is similar to that of citizens
The definition of scandalous and corrupt behav- in other industrial democracies. Nevertheless,
iour varies according to time and place. Corrup- there are at least two aspects of Japanese culture
tion has a cultural component and one might that facilitate corruption: the frequent occasions
well expect Japanese attitudes towards corrup- for gift-giving and the prevalence of personal
tion to differ from 'western' attitudes. The avail- networks.
able data suggest, however, that a broad consen- Japanese customs involve a large number
sus exists among the industrial democracies, of gift-giving occasions. The Japanese are as
whether eastern or western, on what constitutes capable of distinguishing appropriate gifts from
corruption. inappropriate ones as anyone else, and probably
The results of an Asahi newspaper poll draw the line between appropriate and inappro-
conducted in both the USA and Japan are priate at roughly similar positions, but the fre-
presented in Table l. The similarities are strik- quency of gift-giving occasions makes it easy to

©UNESCO 1996.


Political corruption in Japan 397

pass clearly inappropriate bribes from business- More ominous is the role of kuromaku. In
man to politician or from politician to voter. kabuki theatre, kuromaku dressed in black
Besides the several national holidays and move about the stage shifting props and keeping
many personal events (marriages, funerals, etc.) the play rolling ahead. The audience can see
that involve gift-giving, it is often appropriate them but are supposed to ignore their existence.
to give token gifts when meeting someone on Political kuromaku are often shady characters
business. Mementos are often given to parti- with links to both organized crime and right-
cipants in events. If you attend a store opening, wing groups. They were most active in the
you will usually find a little something extra in early post-war period, but one, Kodama Yoshio,
your shopping bag when you get home. If you known hopefully as 'the last of the kuromaku',
attend a Sumo match, you will receive a bag played a significant role in the Lockheed scandal
of souvenirs. Thus, if you attend a meeting of in the mid-1970s.
a political 'study group' hosted by a political Two aspects of the network society deserve
candidate and his supporters, you will probably to be noted in connection with corruption: the
receive a bag of mementos and campaign litera- relationships between the Liberal Democratic
ture. Though most of this gift-giving is perfectly Party (LDP) and opposition politicians, and
appropriate, it is easy to put an envelope full dangou, a Japanese way of fixing bids for public
of cash in with the souvenirs, mementos and works contracts.
tokens. Japanese attitudes toward corruption The Japanese Diet is 'viscous': it is hard
may not differ much from 'western' attitudes, to get bills through and easy for even small
but Japanese customs provide ample cover for groups to disrupt the process. The LDP, though
bribery. There is little need to pass bribes 'under holding a majority of the seats from 1955 to
the table'. 1993, often needed to negotiate deals with one
Societies are networks almost by definition, or more of the opposition parties in order to
but there are several senses in which Japan is keep the Diet functioning smoothly. Some deals
more of a network society than most. 'Old- were legitimate: the opposition would be given
boy networks' based on a shared university ample opportunity to present their message to
experience, most notably among the graduates the public if afterwards they would allow the
of Tokyo University, penetrate most elite bill to pass. Some deals even involved significant
organizations in Japan. More important for the policy concessions. Other times money was
study of corruption is the power derived from required to grease the wheels of the law-making
having a network that crosses organizational machine. In any case, a go-between often proved
boundaries between governing and opposition necessary and relationships with opposition
political parties, between politicians and bureau- Dietmen became a power resource for LDP
crats, and between government and business. politicians.
Negotiations across such boundaries are nor- Dangou were at the centre of the Zenekon
mally handled by individuals who can use their scandal. Price-fixing cartels are common in con-
personal relationships to smooth over ideologi- struction industries around the world and similar
cal differences or conflicts of interest. Friendship collusive arrangements are common in other
allows the go-between to bring the parties industries in Japan. Until 1982, the practice in
together, often over dinner and drinks, to work the Japanese construction industry was to have
out their problems 'man-to-man'. (Japanese about ten designated bidders. In that year a
society in general, and the political world in bid-rigging scandal forced the government to
particular, remains male-dominated, despite double the number of designated firms, effec-
some recent gains by women.) For example, tively destroying the ability of the industry to
newspapermen sometimes have a surprising regulate itself. Into this gap stepped Kanemaru
amount of influence precisely because they Shin, who restored effective collusion and
associate with so many different types of people. charged a price for his services (Woodall, 1993).
The use of go-betweens may be perfectly Collusion is the product of economic incentives
legitimate but may also involve illegitimate mon- found everywhere and general theory predicts
etary exchanges through such ruses as deliber- a great deal about when and where it will occur.
ately losing money in a game of mah-jongg. However, Japanese businessmen, bureaucrats

© UNESCO 1996.


398 Steven R. Reed

Kakuei Tanaka, as newly installed Prime Minister of Japan, casting his vote in a ballot box. Pana/Rapho

and economists are less committed to economic good example) are allocated by lottery or some
competition and much more open to economic other impersonal mechanism.
co-operation than analogous groups in the It would be a mistake to ignore either the
United States. This is a clear cultural difference personal network or the impersonal bureau-
but Western Europe may well be closer to Japan cratic aspects of Japanese society. Unfortu-
than the United States. nately, most scholars tend to analyse one aspect
Japan is, in many important senses, a net- or the other and we have little information that
work society and the power of personal networks would allow us to assess the balance between
added to the traditional role of 'go-betweens' these two realities.
facilitates corruption. On the other hand, we
must also remember that Japan is equally an
examination-oriented bureaucratized society. How much political corruption
Entry into elite universities and bureaucratic in Japan?
promotions are among the many important
goods distributed almost exclusively through Any attempt at accurately assessing the total
examinations. Although one can find exceptions amount of corruption in a country is doomed
in which personal connections or financial con- to futility but several pieces of information lead
tributions make a difference, it seems clear that, us to the conclusion that Japan has a serious
if one can pass the examination, one needs corruption problem, second perhaps only to
neither connections nor money. Similarly, many Italy in the industrialized world.
goods that would be extremely helpful sources First, in addition to a continuing series of
of patronage (entry into public housing is a minor and local scandals, Japan has experienced

© UNESCO 1996.



a series of major scandals throughout the post- TABLE 2. Post-war Japanese Prime Ministers and
corruption
war period: the Showa Denko scandal became a
major issue in the 1949 election; the shipbuilding Yoshida Shigeru April 1946, No known
scandal was an issue in the 1955 election; the November scandals but
1967 election was affected by a series of scandals 1948 pardoned Sato
Eisaku
that the media labelled the 'Black Mist'; the
Katayama Tetsu May 1947 No known
Lockheed scandal affected both the 1976 and scandals
the 1983 elections, the latter because a guilty January 1948 Arrested in
Ashida Hitoshi
verdict had been passed on former Prime Minis- Showa Denko
ter Tanaka Kakuei; the Recruit scandal affected scandal
both the House of Councillors election of 1989 Hatoyama lchiro December No known
and the general election of 1990; and the Sagawa 1954 scandals
Kyubin, Kyowa, and Zenekon scandals affected Ishibashi Tanzan December No known
the 1993 general election. In each of these 1956 scandals
elections, the parties implicated in the scandals Kishi Nobusuke February 1957 Implicated in
Black Mist
lost significant numbers of both votes and
Ikeda Hayato June 1960 Implicated in
seats. The 1955 and 1993 elections both played shipbuilding
a role in changing the Japanese party system, Sato Eisaku October 1964 Arrest warrant
with the birth and death of LOP one-party issued in
dominance respectively. In no other country shipbuilding
have scandals played as prominent a role in Tanaka Kakuei September Successfully
elections. 1972 appealed
conviction in
Secondly, the people implicated in corrup- bribery case;
tion scandals have also been prominent. Table convicted in
2 lists Japan's post-war prime ministers and Lockheed scandal
their involvement in scandals. Of the twenty- Miki Takeo November No known
one men who have held the post, six have been 1974 scandals
directly involved in one of the major post-war Fukuda Takeo December Arrested in
scandals and half have been implicated in a 1976 Showa Denko
scandal
scandal in one form or another. Particularly
Ohira Masayoshi November No known
noteworthy is the fact that Sato Eisaku, Tanaka 1978 scandals
Kakuei and Fukuda Takeo all were directly Suzuki Zenko July 1980 Minor
connected with corruption scandals before being involvement in
selected as prime minister. A bribery conviction Kyowa scandal
(successfully appealed against) did not damage Nakasone Yasuhiro November Rumoured
Tanaka's political career, nor did issuing an 1982 involvement in
Lockheed and
arrest warrant necessitating official political Recruit scandals
intervention by Prime Minister Yoshida to pre- Takeshita Noboru October 1986 Involved in
vent the actual arrest of Sato, harm his career. Recruit scandal
Ikeda was also under investigation at that time, Uno Sosuke June 1989 A minor 'woman'
though Prime Minister Yoshida's political inter- scandal
vention kept Ikeda's involvement from becom- Kaifu Toshiki October 1989 No known
ing as widely known, so he may also be included scandals
among the four prime ministers selected despite Miyazawa Kiichi October 1991 Minor
a history of corruption scandals. The fourth is involvement in
Recruit scandal
Fukuda who was tried and acquitted in the
Hosokawa Morihiro August 1993 Minor problem
Showa Denko scandal for actions taken while over loans from
he was in the Ministry of Finance. He admitted Sagawa Kyubin
he had taken the money but said he did not Hata Tsutomu April 1994 No known
know it was a bribe. scandals
There is currently a tendency to associate Murayama Tomoichi June 1994 No known
dirty politics with party politicians and clean scandals

©UNESCO 1996.


400 Steven R. Reed

politics with ex-bureaucrat politicians. The the history that produced it, looks remarkably
administrations of Ikeda and Sato, both ex- similar to that recently adopted in Italy.
bureaucrats, were quiet times politically and Though much work remains to be done, it
major scandals re-emerged with the adminis- seems clear that the Japanese political corrup-
tration of party politician Tanaka and his pro- tion crisis of the 1990s is not as serious as the
teges. One can hardly ignore Tanaka's role but Italian crisis. Japan cannot match Italy on the
neither should one forget that five of the seven percentage of the political class involved, the
ex-bureaucrat prime ministers were implicated degree of involvement of organized crime, the
in corruption and four were directly involved amount of violence experienced, nor even the
in major scandals. degree to which the post-war political system
Finally, Japan has recently experienced a has been rejected by the public. In fact, the
wave of scandals involving massive amounts of total number of bribery trials and investigations
money and large numbers of politicians. The has not increased significantly, though the inves-
crisis began in 1988 with the recruit scandal. tigations have moved up the scale, with more
Recruit involved record amounts of money and mayors and governors being charged. On the
record numbers of politicians, though few poli- other hand, no other industrial democracy looks
ticians broke any laws. The Recruit scandal was more like Italy than Japan.
one factor in the historic defeat of the LDP in
the 1989 House of Councillors election. The
Socialist Party outpolled the LDP for the first A note on the investigation of
(and last) time. LDP losses were even more corruption in Japan
impressive in local elections. Recruit also had
an effect, though reduced, on the 1990 general Japanese courts do not have subpoena powers.
election. Two prime ministers were forced to They cannot demand specific pieces of infor-
resign over each of these electoral defeats, the mation. Instead, general search warrants are
first being Takeshita Noboru, successor to issued. Policemen, sometimes in their hundreds,
Tanaka Kakuei. The voters' anger had begun suddenly appear at the door and collect all
to fade when a new round of scandals was potentially relevant materials before anything
exposed. During the investigation of the Sagawa can be burned or hidden. Cartons of documents
Kyubin scandal in 1991, incredible amounts of are carted out of homes and offices to be exam-
money were found in the possession of Kanemaru ined in detail back at police headquarters. This
Shin, the manager of the Takeshita faction. style of investigation means that the police must
Systematic kickbacks on public construction be very certain that they will find something
projects were exposed involving essentially the before requesting an arrest warrant. It would
whole industry and led to the Zenekon scandal. be a horrible embarrassment if a horde of police
Some obscure connections between politics and were to collect thousands of documents and find
organized crime were also revealed. nothing incriminating. On the other hand, when
A combination of on-going trials and new a warrant is issued, the police get a great deal
revelations served to keep corruption on the more information than is needed for prosecuting
public agenda and fuelled the already growing the original case. The most common mode of
disaffection with politics. Several new parties, discovering political corruption is the serendipit-
two formed from LDP defectors, competed in ous discovery of records of bribery in the files
the general election of July 1993. The combi- of a suspect in some other type of investigation.
nation of the defections and the popularity of the This style also helps explain the pattern of long
new parties produced an electoral earthquake periods with few corruption cases followed by
which, while not of the magnitude of the 1994 the discovery of scandals involving large num-
Italian or 1993 Canadian elections, was strong bers of politicians: one successful investigation
enough to end the era of LDP one-party domi- can spread rapidly. I am also under the
nance. The non-LDP Hosokawa coalition impression that Japanese companies tend to
government enacted a major political reform keep better records of their criminal activity
which, among other things, changed the elec- because they can be assured that it can be kept
toral system. The new system, like much of secret under normal circumstances.

©UNESCO 19%.



Aftermath of the earthquake in Kobe, which revealed a number of breaches of building regulations, giving rise to
questions of corruption by the constructors. Hires Chip/Gamma

The changing patterns of ideological battles over rearmament and focused
corruption in post-war Japan attention on economic growth. The beginning of
LOP rule coincided with high economic growth,
Styles and perhaps amounts of corruption have which together with the end of emergency econ-
changed over time. We can distinguish four omic recovery laws, changed the nature of the
periods: the early post-war period, the LOP relationship between politics and economics.
one-party dominant era of the 1960s, the Tanaka The government did not retreat to a laissez
era of the 1970s and 1980s, and the current faire role. Intervention through administrative
crisis period starting in 1989. guidance continued but, except for direct
The two major scandals of the 1940s and government procurement, the authoritative
1950s, Showa Denko and shipbuilding, both allocation of quotas among companies ended.
involved programmes in which the government Corruption in the Showa Denko or shipbuilding
directly allocated production quotas among style was no longer possible.
companies. When the government has that much Corruption clearly continued under the
influence over which companies will profit and LOP but may well have been reduced. Poli-
grow, bribery is a good investment. Japanese ticians and bureaucrats had less to sell and
companies invested heavily and profited greatly. rapidly growing industry has less need to buy
After the 1955 election the Liberal and political influence. There is some reason to
Democratic parties merged into the Liberal believe that corruption decreased and there is
Democratic Party (LOP) which was to rule certainly no reason to think the level of corrup-
Japan for the next thirty-five years. LOP rule tion remained constant, but there are at least
was consolidated in 1960 with the Ikeda adminis- two reasons to believe the 1960s might look less
tration, which lowered the temperature of the corrupt than they actually were. First, the LOP

©UNESCO 19%.


402 Steven R. Reed

was entrenched in power and therefore in a fitting for the beginning of LDP one-party domi-
better position to suppress information about nance. While one can never be certain that corrup-
the corruption that did exist. The media cer- tion really did fall during these years, the fact
tainly had information about corruption that that the media failed to uncover any scandals as
was not published. Secondly, the corruption serious as Showa Denko or shipbuilding, even
trials of the 1950s produced very few convic- when corruption was on their agenda in 1967, is
tions. It proved to be virtually impossible to rather convincing.
prove that money was paid in return for the The career of Tanaka Kakuei changed the
exercise of political influence. Politicians could face of Japanese politics in several ways. In
simply claim that the money was a campaign 1972 he succeeded a series of three elite Tokyo
contribution. Though little is known about the University educated, ex-bureaucrat prime minis-
role of judges and prosecutors in investigating ters though he had not graduated from college.
corruption, it is reasonable to hypothesize that He built his political career on bringing pork-
they were less willing to pursue cases with barrel benefits to his electoral district and
low probabilities of conviction. Thus, some organizing a legendary political machine there.
unknown combination of lower actual rates of He was a master of political manoeuvre inside
corruption and a lower probability of prosecut- the Diet, breaking and rewriting the rules of
ing corruption resulted in twenty years without factional politics inside the LDP and negotiating
a major scandal. with the opposition parties to move contro-
The corruption that was uncovered was still versial bills through the Diet. He understood
quite raw. The prostitution bill scandal of 1957 democratic politics in a way his bureaucratic
involved payments from the prostitutes' union predecessors did not. He was LOP Secretary-
to persuade politicians to vote against, alter the General during the 1969 election and, though
implementation of, and finally get compensation he was given more credit for that victory than
for the law outlawing prostitution. (It had been was his due, his detailed knowledge of the
legal but regulated up to that point.) The poli- political situation in each electoral district and
ticians involved represented areas with large strategic calculations may have won the LOP a
'red light' districts and were representing their few extra seats. Tanaka should be a familiar
constituents in typical LOP fashion. If the indus- figure in any country with a Jong enough history
try involved had been more respectable, there of democratic politics. In the United States, his
might have been no scandal. In the event, shop- career is remarkably similar to that of Lyndon
ping centres were built in the districts to provide Johnson.
alternative employment for those put out of Tanaka's role in changing the face of cor-
work by the law, another typical LOP policy. ruption in Japan seems to have been to systemat-
Most revealing of corruption during the ize and rationalize the process and to shift the
quiescent 1960s are the 'Black Mist scandals' of pattern from businessmen and interest groups
1967. There was no major incident. The 'Black offering money for influence towards politicians
Mist' was much more of a media event than demanding money from businessmen and inter-
either Showa Denko or shipbuilding. The issues est groups under the implied threat of loss of
played up by the newspapers at the time were influence (Johnson, 1986). Corruption became
less matters of money exchanged for influence less like business transactions and more like
than the abuse of power. There were two cases extortion. The clearest example is the 1974
of politicians using coercion to extract money and House of Councillors election in which parti-
favours from businessmen, but the more colourful cular companies and industries were assigned
incidents were more popular. The Minister of candidates to fund and elect. Despite signifi-
Transport ordered express trains to stop at a small cantly increased expenditures, this 'company-
town in his district and was forced to resign his based' (kigyou-gurumi) election campaign failed
post. Another LOP Dietman managed to have to reverse the LDP's electoral decline. There
the government pay for his daughter's honeymoon were, however, over a hundred arrests on
trip. A third ordered the military band to play charges of violating election laws.
in a parade welcoming him home to visit his Tanaka set record highs for prime minis-
district. This type of corruption seems particularly terial popularity when he was selected in 1972,

© UNESCO 1996.



but soon set record lows, primarily because of The Recruit scandal involved a relatively
the inflation caused by his spending policies. In new company in the relatively new information
1974 he was forced to resign because of the industry. Although the Recruit Cosmos com-
publication of an expose about his political style. pany did receive some policy considerations in
The LOP selected a 'Mr Clean' in Miki Takeo return, this scandal caught the company making
although, during Miki's administration, the fact a large-scale investment in its political future.
that the Lockheed Corporation had paid bribes The company seems to have been buying its
to Japanese politicians was revealed in the US way into political networks. As a newcomer,
Congress (MacDougall, 1988). The US Con- the company seems to have misunderstood some
gress caused political trouble in many different of the subtleties of the game. The public was
countries with this investigation, but the revel- appalled at both the amounts of money and the
ations hit Japanese politics at a particularly number of politicians involved, including many
vulnerable juncture. The Lockheed scandal from the opposition parties. The Kyowa and
might have been swept under the carpet, but Sagawa scandals were, in many ways, typical
Miki demanded full documentation from the cases of bribery, notable primarily because they
United States and vigorous prosecution from kept reports of corruption in the newspapers.
the Japanese justice system. Tanaka was caught Investigation of Sagawa, however, led to Kane-
in this web. He was arrested and put on trial maru Shin which in turn led to revelations
for the second time in his career. about connections to organized crime and to the
Despite his involvement and even after his Zenekon scandal. Zenekon revealed systematic
conviction in 1983 the Tanaka faction continued kickbacks in the construction industry and for-
to grow. Because the Tanaka faction was the ced the resignations of several governors and
largest and had no candidate for prime minister mayors. It was the regular revelation of corrup-
itself, Tanaka was able to play king-maker and tion that led to increasing disgust with the polit-
continued to exercise a great deal of power until ical system and contributed to the defeat of the
he was incapacitated by a stroke in February LOP.
1985. For at least three years, the most powerful
politician in Japan was exercising his power
behind the scenes while appealing against a Putting Japanese corruption
bribery conviction. into perspective
The Lockheed scandal was reminiscent of
the Showa Denko and shipbuilding scandals in Heidenheimer (1993) provides the best frame-
that money was exchanged for a governmental work for analysing corruption in a comparative
decision which profited the company directly. perspective and part of his analysis is reproduced
It differed, however, in that it involved a foreign in Table 3. Of his four categories, we need
company and was revealed by foreign poli- examine only the last two, the 'modern boss-
ticians, making it extremely difficult to evaluate. patronage-based system' and the 'modern civic-
One could see it as an exception to a general culture-based system', because it is clear that
pattern of lesser domestic corruption or as an Japan is neither a 'traditional familist based
exception to the rule that domestic corruption system' or a 'traditional patron-client-based sys-
can be kept secret. In any case, once the tem'.
Lockheed scandal was resolved. until 1988 Japan In some cases, Japan clearly fits in the boss-
seemed to return to the patterns of the 1960s. patronage category. On item #2, people in
The most interesting part of the story is the positions of power can expect a lot of gifts.
final chapter, the corruption crisis that helped Currently the 'scandal' of lavish entertainment
change the Japanese party system. Unfortu- of national bureaucrats by local officials is in the
nately, the events are too recent and too com- news. Similarly, political fund-raising through
plex for any firm conclusions to be drawn at 'clean graft' (#4) is so common it might even
this time but an outline of the major events be considered SOP (standard operating
follows. The main difficulty is that the scandals procedure). At least in the construction indus-
of the 1990s fit no common pattern and no try, kickbacks ( #7) were required, though one
simple summary is possible. may wonder about how widespread the practice

©UNESCO 1996.


404 Steven R. Reed

TABLE 3. Japanese corruption in comparative perspective

Modern boss Modern civic
#1. Officials deviate from rules in minor ways for benefit of SOP Frequent
friends
#2. Gifts accepted by officials for generalized good will SOP Occasional
#3. Nepotism in official appointments and contract awarding SOP Occasional
#4. Officials profit from public decisions through sideline Frequent Occasional
occupations (clean graft)
#5. Clients pledge votes according to patron's direction Frequent Rare
#6. Clients need patron intervention to get administrative 'due Occasional Rare
process'
#7. Gifts (kickbacks) expected by officials as prerequisite for Occasional Rare
extending 'due process'
#8. Officials tolerate organized crime in return for payoffs. Occasional Rare
#9. Activists suddenly change party allegiance for pecuniary Occasional Rare
reasons
#10. Officials and citizens ignore clear proof of corruption Occasional Rare

Source: Adapted from Heidenheimer, 1993, pp. 156--57

is in other areas. In other cases, Japan clearly is sometimes ignored. Again we must decide
fits in the civic system category. Nepotism (#3) between occasionally and rarely, and recent
is not common; the number of votes that can revelations of corruption in virtually every
be mobilized through patron-client structures industrial democracy suggest that we should not
( #5) is negligible; and one rarely sees activists set the standard for judging Japan too high.
changing party allegiance for pecuniary reasons The idea that corruption is routinely ignored in
(#9). Japan rests primarily on the fact that corrupt
In many cases, one could argue either side politicians are routinely re-elected and that the
of the issue: Japanese officials do deviate from LDP retained power, even though periodically
rules in minor ways for the benefit of friends, rocked by major scandals. One can criticize
but that is normal even in modern civic systems. Japanese voters for not being sensitive enough
The question is whether this is done frequently to corruption charges, but the same charge can
or is the standard operating procedure (SOP). be made against voters in every democracy.
It seems that Japan falls somewhere in between: Voters do not live up to the standards set
the practice is not at all uncommon but SOP by self-appointed guardians of democracy from
only in a select set of administrative activities either the media or academia. In fact, candidates
or for people of high status. Similarly, one can and parties tainted with scandal have lost votes.
find examples of clients not getting 'due process' Japanese voters have not ignored corruption.
without a powerful patron, but could this be Similarly, one might blame the media for not
called an 'occasional' or 'rare' phenomenon? informing voters of normal corrupt practices.
Connections certainly do make a difference in Again, however, Japan looks perfectly normal.
the speed with which due process is achieved. Lyndon Johnson comes to mind again: 'every-
Until recently, organized crime was tolerated one' (except the public) knew of his shady
to a degree but not necessarily in return for practices. If Japanese voters and media have
payoffs. Here again is an area which deserves done their part, Japanese politicians have long
more study, but one reason that organized crime failed in theirs. Most spectacular is the failure
was tolerated was the assessment that a realistic of the LDP to reduce the power of Tanaka
policy to keep it within bounds was better than Kakuei after 1983.
an idealistic one of trying to get rid of it. Judged overall, Japan fits somewhere in
Perhaps the most difficult question involves between a boss-patronage system and civic-cul-
the degree to which clear evidence of corruption ture system. The precise location is debatable

© UNESCO 1996.



but recent events are best interpreted as part successful but the history of democracy else-
of the process of transition from a boss to a where offers no hope that corruption will ever
civic system. We may hope the transition proves disappear completely.

References

ENDO, H .. 1992. 'Kigyou al. (eds). Political Corruption: A Silverstein (eds), The Politics of
Katsudou ni okeru "kouseisa" no Handbook. New Brunswick: Scandal, Holmes and Meier.
Kokusai Chousa Houkoku'. Transaction Publishers.
REED, S. R .. 1994. 'The Response
Dentsuu Souken.
of the Japanese Electorate to
JoHNSON. c .. 1986. 'Tanaka Corruption Scandals'. Paper
GIBBONS. K. M .• 1993. 'Towards
Kakuei, Structural Corruption, presented at the Sixteenth World
an Attitudinal Definition of
and the Advent of Machine Congress of the International
Corruption'. In Heidenheimer et
Politics in Japan'. The Journal of Political Science Association,
al. (eds). Political Corruption: A
Japanese Studies, 12. pp. 1-28. Berlin.
Handbook. New Brunswick:
Transaction Publishers. WOODALL, B .. 1993. 'The Logic of
MACDOUGALL, T., 1988. 'The Collusive Action: The Political
HEIDENHEIMER, A. J .. 1993. Lockheed Scandal and the High Roots of Japan's Dango System'.
'Perspectives on the Perception of Costs of Politics in Japan'. In Comparative Politics, 25,
Corruption". In Heidenheimer et A. S. Markovits and M. pp. 297-312.

© UNESCO 1996.


Copyright of International Social Science Journal is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be
copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written
permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

6.4 reed political corruption in japan

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (18)

Similar to 6.4 reed political corruption in japan

Similar to 6.4 reed political corruption in japan (15)

6.4 reed political corruption in japan