Electioneering in Japan in an Era of Institutional Change: Case-Studies of Campaign Behavior in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Election Districts.

Abstract

The Japanese style of election campaigning has long been seen as very distinctive and as dysfunctional for democratic accountability by Western political scientists and Japanese political participants alike. Major reforms in the 1990s were aimed at moving election campaigns away from traditional Japanese patterns and toward contemporary Western practices. This study evaluates the effect of the reforms on campaign strategies by closely observing three candidates, representing suburban, urban, and rural Lower House electoral districts, through three elections: in 1993, before the reform, and in 1996 and 2000 afterward. The candidates were selected to maximize the likelihood of adopting non-traditional new strategies—all were young, represented new reformist parties, and studied Western-style politics at the prestigious Matsushita Institute of Government and Management (MIGM). Nonetheless, we found that the traditional strategies of mobilization through social ties were quite prevalent and actually more central in 1996 than before the reform, although some trends to the contrary were observable in 2000. Analysis of variations in campaign behavior cross-sectionally and over time helps us sort out explanations for distinctive Japanese patterns, and assess the likelihood of further change.