Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
01/15/2014
1/15/14
Introduction: Japan in Comparative and Global Perspectives
Roughly the size of Montana
4 islands; Honshu the main island
o 2 major plains- Kanto (Tokyo) and Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto)
N-S chain of islands ~1200 miles, the length of the East Coast
Mountainous archipelago (70%), the rest are lowlands and plateaus
This elongated shape makes everywhere close to the ocean; the
farthest point from the ocean is 80 miles
Closest point to Korea is 100 miles
Chinas eastern coast, ~500 miles away
Population: 10th in the world between Russia and Mexico; 127
million
Japan has multiple traditions; mixed traditions and foreign
influences; Buddhism (early 6th century), Confucianism
(examination system), Shinto (indigenous religion; means way of
the Gods)
Democracy in Japan
Przeworskis definition of democracy: democracy is a form of
government in which government offices are filled by contested
elections
o There is an opposition party that has a reasonable chance of
winning the next election
Przeworski: democracy is a system in which political parties lose
elections
o Political parties as the key figure of democracy; there has to
be an alteration of power in democracies
o A single party does not constitute a democracy
Japan has three key organizations/entities when thinking about
Japanese democracy: the Emperor (Yamato family; an elite family
of Shinto priests who established spiritual authority in Japan in the
early 6th century; they have developed political power from the 6 th
to 8th century; for about a millennium, it did not have political
power), military, nationalism
By 1930s to 40s, Japan became a militarist regime, nationalism
reigns; Japan became an empire in the 19th century, built its empire
in Taiwan, Korea, and tries to conquer mainland China
To protect the kokutai and the Emperor; people still saw him as
spiritual/supreme power despite being a figurehead
Tojo was to take the fall for him
Americans were also convinced by Japanese testimonies that
protected Hirohito and set up Tojo to bear full responsibility
Truman administration felt that the occupation of Japan would be
greatly facilitated if the Emperor appeared to be cooperating with
the Allied powers
o This was MacArthurs idea
o This facilitation could not be possible if Hirohito was charged
of war crimes and sentenced to imprisonment
o POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY
Reverse Course
Political stability and economic growth
National Police Reserve; Self-Defense Force
1/29
Discussion Questions
Yoshida identifies closely with the oligarchs; began his career as a
foreign service officer after graduation from Tokyo University;
ambassadorship to Italy and UK
In the eyes of militarists, he was a weak-kneed liberal
Attempted to broker a deal on Manchuria with the British, but
resigns from foreign service after Japanese military precipitated war
2/19
Americans of all ages, all stations in life, and all types of disposition
are forever forming associationsThere are not only commercial and
industrial associations in which they all take part, but others of a thousand
different types- religious, moral, serious, futile, very general and very
limited, immensely large and very minute
-Alexis de Toqueville, Democracy in America (1835, 1840)
Civil society is organized, non-government, nonmarket sector
People can engage in sphere relatively free of government control
and regulation
What is distinctive about Japans civil society?
The bureaucratic state is relatively small in size in Japan, but has a
lot of authorities, prerogatives, reaches out horizontally and
vertically into society
Civil societies are usually small and local in origin; professional
organizations in American context
PIP status- Public Interest Legal Person- given by the Japanese
government
Media
Spectator; politically neutral- reports what happens
Watchdog- starting point of the media is to be critical of the
government and what happens in general
Servant- media reinforces the government; shapes public opinion in
the way the government wants
NHK- public broadcasting corporation of Japan; this became a lot of
news when its president, appointed by the current Diet comented
that comfort women was not just Japan, but all countries had it
etc
Civil society to liberalism- to check the power of authority ; preventing
the tyranny of the powerful
2/24
Social Movements and Judiciary
Paper due noon Friday March 7; NO NEED TO SUBMIT HARD COPY
Social movements are part of civil society; they aim to transform the
dominant political agenda
This is particularly important to Japan because political agenda
there has been, in some ways, decided by the tightly knit iron
triangle (LDP, bureaucracy, corporations)
2 strategies: popular movements and protest; litigation
o litigation- to hold dominant interests liable over violations of
laws and constitution
first set of social movements were anti-war and anti-American protests
the largest ever political movement and organized protest started in
Tokyo in the 1960s and spread through other cities
this was in protest to the renewal of the 1951 treaty between China
and US
o asymmetric treaty that did not oblige the US to protect
Japan; said that the US could use stationed troops and have
bases in Japan for protecting the security in the foreign east;
there was no clause for US to protect Japan
deep skepticism of wartime government and conservative agenda
under Kishi; they felt Japan would be entrapped in a military
conflict led by the US in the Cold War
3/3
Explaining Japans Economic Miracle
A. Explaining economic growth
Demand side
Inter-firm relations
o Short term v. long term contracts
Comparative institutional advantages
o Radical v. incremental innovation
o
3/10
Central Banks, Financial Crises, and Abenomics
Central bank independence- central banks form and regulate
monetary policy
Monetary policy- aims to affect the money supply, which then
affects outcomes such as inflation, output, growth, and employment
2 policy instruments:
o discount rate- rate with which central banks(CB) charge
banks when they borrow from CB
o open market operations- CB buy and sell assets and typically
government bonds/debt; expansionary policy that a CB
purchases assets (government bonds), which means they
give money to those who sold these things; contractionary
policy- government sells assets which takes money from
private loans
high CBI countries- Germany before the Euro, US, and Switzerland
o there is SOME correlation that these are all federalized
countries
low CBI- Japan, Britain, France before the Euro
o three governments that are strongly centralized
CBI does have significant impact on rate of inflation- high CBI
typically has lower rates of inflation
o Impact on growth and employment (real variables) are not as
clear
Japans bubble economy: 1985-90
Symptoms: textbook case of bubble economy; this was what made
Japan see stagnation in the next 20+ years
US 98-2000 dotcom bubble; mortgage backed securities (MBS)bubbled real estate loans and resold as legitimate assets (which
turned out to not have that much value)
Germany in post-WWI
Asset price inflation- assets (things that have financial valuestocks, land, real estate, MBS) have a gap between consumer
prices
asset prices are siginificantly higher than consumer prices
financial crisis happened with a policy mistake by the CB to
excessively expand its money supply
hosuehodls and businesses have access to cheap loans, so they get
more money at a cheap rate; BUT there is not enough outlet
(papers) for productive investments (this could be real estate or
stocks, and these investments actually have returns)
depression in stocks and real estate prices; this leaves us with
borrower side (households and businesses) with too much debt they
cannot pay off (bad liabilities), and banks have TOO many BAD
assets (they have lent to too many businesses and households
which cannot pay back the money)- these loans have not led to
productive investments, so they are not performing and
banks/financial institutions know in their heart they wont get this
money back
NPL- non-performing loan ; once there are too many bad assets,
banks are unwilling to lend money and businessnes are unwilling to
borrow money because they are too busy dealing with the bad
investments
This happens on both assets and liability sides
2007 US the amount that the private sector had borrowed on the
net basis -4.8% of GDP; 2008 global financial crisis; 2010 this
number becomes +8.7% of GDP- savings by households and
businesses
o this is a shift in 13.5% reduction in annual basis of the
amount of funds which are borrowed/spent/invested by
households and corporations
o corporations are sitting on cash, but are not spending; this is
not leading to productive investments or job creations
when a financial crisis hits, what can a central bank do?
Abenomics
How to deal with NPL and politics behind this.
Who bears the cost of NPL- lenders (banks), borrowers (firmsshould they go bankrupt), or tax payers
On one hand, arguments can be made that with the collapse of one
financial institutions, with the world so interconnected these days,
that the collapse of one institution would have a catastrophic impact
on the international financial institutions
3/12
Politics of Economic Reform
Monetization of government debt in Japan- Koo asks that if CB directly
purchases bond from government- this is not happening today in
US/Europe/Japan; this is because in terms of net savings or net deficit that
the private sector are in the positive; what he is basically saying is that what
the CBs were doing is taking away direct purchasing (going to these banks
and directly purchase)
Problem of balance sheet recession- there is actually net positive in
terms of savings from corporations
Quantitative (QE) v. Qualitative Easing
QE- it expands the balance sheet of Central Banks, since CBs are
purchasing government bonds; asset column expands
Qualitative easing- to replace risky and less risky assets that banks
hold with more liquid and safer assets; giving safer assets (usually
government bonds to banks) in return for more risky assets (such
as MBS- mortgage based security)
Why has reform been so slow in Japan? Abenomics?
Demand side- 3 actors that spend money- households, businesses,
and government (C, I, G)
Supply side- land labor capital (inputs); productivity growth- tech,
regulatory barriers, Total Factor Production (TFP)
Deflation and inflation- alter the cost benefits for consumers
businesses, creditors, debtors
Deflation- prices are lowered, meaning that private actors and
househodls have little interest to spend; they are waiting for the
next great deal for prices to go down
o For businesses, they expect their earnings to go down, which
means they also have little incentives to invest
Inflation- businesses invest more; opposite impact compared to
deflation
B.
C.
o Realism/international system:
Collapse of Soviet Union, Chinas rise, N. Korea:
missile/nuclear capabilities
US foreign policy and the War on Terror
o Liberalism/constructivism
Domestic politics; generational change (elites, public)
Norms, institutional change?
4/7
The Rise of China
I. Cooperation and Conflict in Japan-China Relations
A. Historical evolution
1949-1972: PRC (CCP) v. ROC (KMT, Kuomintang, Nationalists)
1972-92
o strategic context: Nixon Shock, US-Japan-China cooperation
v. USSR
post-Stalin, Kruschev turns USSR reformist and a rift
emerges in the 50s; 1969 after border war between
Russia and China, the ultimate manifestation of the
Sino-Soviet split emerged
1972- Treaty of Peace and friendship between China
and Japan
first decade of Sino-Jpanaese relations were between
corporations and firms; it was only the next two
decades that led to increased closeness
o economics: Deng Xiaopings reform; Official Development Aid
(ODA)
Japan was admired in China as a model of economic
growth
o Tiananmen Square Incident (June 1989)
o History problem, ECS, mostly depoliticized
1992-present
o Chinas rise; concerns about military modernization
o Taiwans democratization: Taiwan Straits Crisis (1995-96),
revised Guidelines
o Economics: Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, environment
o History problem: yaukuni Shrine visits by PM Koizumi, Abe
o ECS: increasing politicization, militarization
B. Explanations (Calder, Kitaoka)
Realism (international system, power)
4/9
Paper due April 25th
I. Japan-ROK Relations
Cold War: US hub and spokes
o 1945-65: No diplomatic relations
Syngman Rhee (1948-60): divided Korea; Korean War
(1950-53)
Strong anticommunist; strong connections with
DC- Americans relied upon him in S. Korea
Anti-Japanese; pro-American
South korea was one of the poorest countries in
the world in the 1950s- its income per capita was
next to Nigeria
Corrupt, totalitarian; Rhee steps down because of
mass protests and an experiment in
democratization begins
Park Chung Hee (1961-79): diplomatic normalization
(1965)
Military coup; miracle years in the 60s and 70s
Parks daughter Park Geun-hye (Saenuri, New
Frontier, Party- president)
Served in Japanese Manchukuo Imperial Army;
served with the Kwantung Army in WWII- part of
the colonial elite in Korea
Diplomatic normalization with Japan in 1965;
consisted of 500 million in war reparations- this
was government to government compensation
Park at the time understood economic
development and aid and trade with Japan, which
was part of why ROK undergoes economic miracle
o Constitutional constraints: Nixon-Sato Communique (1969)
4/14
Globalization and Asian Regionalism
C.
4/16
I. Origins of Japans History Problem
The nature of Japans history problem
o Empire, war, and atrocities
Nanjing Massacre
Comfort women
Many of them were Korean women
Biological experiments (Unit 731)
On mostly Chinese citizens
o Education: textbooks (Ienaga)
Ienagas law suits v. MEXT (former MOE)
Society for Textbook Reform: selective history; LDP,
corporate sponsors
Revision of the Fundamental Law of Education (06)
o Yasukuni Shrine (Togo)
Imagined community of emperor, soldiers, bereaved
families, deities (kami)
4/28
REVIEW SESSION NEXT MONDAY
Conclusion: Demography and Migration
I. Japans Demographic Destiny?
Dimensions of Japans demographic destiny (Jackson;
Eberstadt/Katz)
o Decline in total population
o Decline in fertility: Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
o Decline in working population: aging society
Consequence of Japans demographic trends
o Democracy: inter-generational conflict
o Capitalism
Supply-side: labor quantity and productivity
Demand-side: decline in consumption, investment
(private sector); public spending/debt
Foreign policy and national security?
II. Contemporary Poltiics of Immigration
Status quo and policy proposals
o Contemporary data: ethnic and locational variations