David Chiavacci

Changing egalitarianism? Attitudes regarding income and gender equality in contemporary Japan

Attitudes concerning social equality in Japan have two completely different sides. An equal income distribution is far more strongly supported in Japan than in any other advanced industrialized nation, but support for gender equality regarding family roles and the labor market is clearly weaker than in Western societies. However, in recent years, the appropriate level of income inequality has become a public issue in Japan and support for traditional gender divisions of labor in the family, with women confined to the role of housewife and mother, is weakening. This article tries to gain some further insight into the evaluation of equality in contemporary Japan on the basis of structured, problem-centred interviews with young elite university graduates who joined foreign-affiliated companies (FACs), which have experienced a sudden surge in popularity as employers among top university graduates in the second half of the 1990s. The case of FACs and their boom is of special interest regarding income and gender equality attitudes, as FACs are said to have far more performance-related pay and a different promotion system, as well as to offer much better career possibilities for women in comparison to Japanese firms.

Inequality and the 2017 Election: Decreasing Dominance of Abenomics and Regional Revitalization

Social and regional inequality remained of secondary importance in the 2017 House of Representatives election, especially in comparison to national security and constitutional reform. Still, the election victory of the coalition between the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Kōmeitō was also due to its ability to shape the debate concerning Japan’s political-economic model of growth and inequality. Abenomics and regional revitalization were the dominating policies, which opposition parties criticized without having a real counter-model. A more detailed analysis shows, however, that Abenomics has not yet fulfilled its promise of shared growth, and that the governing coalition’s discursive control over the political-economic agenda has significantly weakened. This creates opportunities for opposition parties in the future.

Japanese political economy revisited: diverse corporate change, institutional transformation, and Abenomics

Abstract This introductory article to the special issue on “Japanese Political Economy Revisited: Diverse Corporate Change, Institutional Transformation, and Abenomics” starts with a short summaryof the changing perceptions of Japans political economy from its meteoric rise as worldwide leading model in the 1970s and 1980s to its demotiontoa problem and reform case since the later 1990s. Based on this overview, it identifies some striking issue and open questions in this conventional view of Japans political economy as problem and the high expectations on Abenomics as Japans current economic reform programme. Then we discuss the articles of the special issue and their new contributionsto a better understanding of the developments at the corporate level as well as institutional change and economic reforms at the macro level in the last two decades. Finally, this introductory article ends with a short outlineof a new research programme and four central research questions about the Japanese political economy.

Vom Nichtimmigrationsland zum Immigrationsland

Japan wurde in der Migrationsforschung oft geradezu als Idealbeispiel fur ein Nichtimmigrationsland betrachtet. Zolberg (1989: 405) schrieb noch Ende der 1980er Jahre in seinem Beitrag zum 25-jahrigen Jubilaum einer der fuhrenden Fachzeitschriften zur internationalen Migration: “[I]f the world were made only of Albania and Japan, there would be no International Migration Review at all.” Die Aussage von Zolberg, welcher das kommunistische Albanien mit seiner extrem restriktiven Emigrationspolitik als Inbegriff fur ein Nichtemigrationsland und Japan mit seiner auserst restriktiven Immigrationspolitik als Paradebeispiel fur ein Nichtimmigrationsland identifiziert, ist jedoch in Bezug zu Japan in zweierlei Hinsicht nicht ganz korrekt. Erstens verzeichnete Japan bis 1945 signifikante Zuwanderungsstrome aus seinen Kolonialgebieten Taiwan und vor allem Korea. Auch wenn es sich hierbei nicht um grenzuberschreitende Migration im engeren Sinne, sondern um Migration aus dem Auseren Territorium in das Innere Territorium des japanischen Kaiserreiches handelte. Zudem versiegte auch nach 1945 die Zuwanderung aus Sudkorea nicht vollkommen, wie noch ausfuhrlicher erortert wird. Zweitens und wichtiger im Kontext der vorliegenden Arbeit war Japan aber gerade in der zweiten Halfte der 1980er Jahre im Begriff sich aus einem Nichtimmigrationsland in ein Immigrationsland zu verwandeln.

Die soziale Konstruktion des japanischen Reisemarktes in der Edo-Zeit

Travel became a major leisure activity for common people in Japan during the Edo period, and it was at that time that the travel market was institutionalized. Hand in hand with the political unification of Japan under the leadership of the Tokugawa clan and the introduction of the alternate attendance system (sankin kôtai), the infrastructure and security of travel improved significantly. The main problem confronting the social construction of the travel market was to overcome the geographical distance between seller and buyer in the market and to build trust relationships between them. The entrepreneurs and the driving force behind the development of the travel market were the oshi, who acted as promoters of religious centers as travel destinations. They built social networks with their customers, called danna, which were organized in corporate bodies (kô). The political elite did not welcome the spread and the increase of travel activities by the population as a form of entertainment. However, their ability to regulate the market was limited. In contrast to this, the state played the central role in the development of inbound and outbound traveling as a strict regulator as well as a travel agent after the Meiji Restoration. 1. EINLEITUNG: DER REISEBOOM DER EDO-ZEIT Japanische Touristen gehören heutzutage zum normalen Straßenbild in den großen Städten und den bekannten Reisezielen Europas. Auslandsreisen der japanischen Bevölkerung sind jedoch eine relativ neue Entwicklung, welche ihren Ursprung erst in den 60er Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts hat. Das Reisen innerhalb Japans als Freizeitbeschäftigung hat hingegen eine lange Tradition. In der Edo-Zeit (1603–1868) erfolgte in Japan eine atemberaubende Expansion auf dem Reisesektor. Während in den vorangegangenen Epochen das Reisen auf eine kleine Oberschicht begrenzt war, wurde es nun zu einer zentralen Freizeitbeschäftigung und Form des Massenkonsums breiter Bevölkerungsschichten. Als Engelbert Kaempfer in den 90er Jahren des 17. Jahrhunderts Japan bereiste, war er überrascht über die große Anzahl von Reisenden, vor allem auf der Tôkaidô als der wichtigsten und meistbenutzten Reisestrecke im Japan der Edo-Zeit. In einem Kapitel mit dem bezeichnenden Titel „Von dem Gewimmel der Menschen, die den Weg täglich bereisen und darauf ihre Nahrung suchen“ schreibt Kaempfer (1964: 178) hierzu: