Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2024. US$70.00, cloth. ISBN 9780824897437.
Scholars have characterized Japan’s civil society as having been in an “ice age” for several decades, especially when focusing on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (Robert Pekkanen, Japan’s Dual Civil Society: Members Without Advocates, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006). This is in stark contrast not only with the vibrant civil societies in most Western democracies but with prominent social movements in Japanese history, such as the anti-Anpo protest movement that began in the late 1950s. This movement opposed the renewal of the US-Japan security treaty (Anpo), which permitted the US its massive military base presence in Japan. There were strikes, mass protests, and protester-police confrontations, which escalated after the Japanese government renewed the treaty in 1959 under dubious circumstances. Another more violent protest episode occurred around Anpo renewal discussions in the following decade. Protest violence and the Japanese media’s reporting of the violence left a negative imprint of the movement on public memory, one that has hindered subsequent protest movements in Japan.
It is within this context that the chapters in Alternative Politics in Contemporary Japan are situated. The volume seeks to layout the landscape of Japanese civil society and social movements in the post-Anpo protest era, with many chapters focused on activism that emerged in the wake of the 2008/2009 financial crisis and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. As Slater and Steinhoff establish in the introduction, the volume focuses on “alternative politics” as political engagement outside of institutionalized politics, different from previous Japanese social movements like the anti-Anpo movement. Similarly, “invisible civil society,” a term used in the introduction and chapter 1, conceptually anchors the volume. As Steinhoff discusses in chapter 1, while the 1998 NPO Law opened the civil society space in Japan, there are still numerous requirements for legal status that are difficult to meet for many organizations that wish to be independent of the Japanese government (46). As such, much of Japanese civil society is “invisible” and consists of “thousands of small, informal, non-hierarchical voluntary groups that easily form and dissolve” (35). Every chapter deals with invisible civil society in some way—from more formal organizations such as anti-nuclear energy groups—to artists decorating cardboard boxes in Shinjuku in order to bring attention to the unhoused population. Accordingly, the volume provides a more nuanced perspective on Japanese civil society; it is not (mostly) dormant but rather activism often occurs outside of formalized civil society organizations with legal status. In practice, as the editors note, the issue-areas covered in the volume are more expansive than those that tend to dominate studies of Japanese civil society (such as environmental and traditional labour issues). In addition to the introduction and chapter 1, which provide the theoretical foundation for the subsequent chapters, the book includes chapters about activism related to alternative labour unions (Kojima and O’Day), homelessness (Cassegård), anti-nuclear energy (Nishikido, Morioka, Furie, and Brown), Japanese democracy and constitution (Slater and Iida), the alt-right (Asahina), and anti-racism (Shaw).To find this invisible civil society, the scholars in the volume use ethnographic methods, at times in combination with other methods (Nishikido’s chapter on alternative/anti-nuclear energy activism, for example, combines ethnographic and survey data).
The volume reminds its readers that Japan is unique among liberal democracies in terms of its civil society and social movements. The conventional wisdom is that democracies tend to have open political opportunity structures (the context in which collective action emerges and exists) due to norms (and laws) about civil rights. Under democracy, protest is more overt, and civil society groups may challenge the state as the prospects of governmental retaliation are lower than in non-democracies. However, Alternative Politics in Contemporary Japan demonstrates that even democracies can, at times, have closed political opportunity structures that limit civil society and social movements.
The book highlights two reasons why Japan’s political opportunity structure is more restrictive. First, part of the negative legacy of the anti-Anpo movement is that protest is generally stigmatized in Japan, especially more overt forms like street demonstrations. To try to mobilize the public, those engaging in “alternative politics” often shirk the label “activist” and at times avoid engaging with more traditional, “militant” organizations. For example, the Students’ Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy (SEALDs) groups tried to convey their image as “regular students” to break from the violent images from the anti-Anpo protest era of student activism (Slater). Second, the legal framework about civil society in Japan (specifically the NPO Law) makes it difficult for civil society groups to be fully independent from, let alone challenge, the state. Additionally, the lack of legal status makes it difficult for organizations to obtain funding, which limits their activities. As a result, many groups that would be considered civil society organizations in other democracies are invisible.
In this sense, the political opportunity structure that surrounds civil society in Japan is not unlike what we might see in some competitive authoritarian regimes. The literature suggests that even though the political opportunity structures in competitive authoritarian regimes is more closed, activism still occurs. However, activists choose protest tactics that are less overt and less threatening to the status quo. This volume provides countless examples of activism in Japan that are similarly less overt and threatening to the status quo, such as art (Cassegård) and music (Brown). Morioka details mothers’ participation in anti-nuclear energy activism after the Fukushima disaster and notes that “instead of the confrontational style of the earlier generation of protesters, the younger protesters preferred ‘gentle protests’ and softened their expression of opposition” (209). In this sense, because of the socially and politically restrictive opportunity structure, the book suggests that activism is occurring in Japan, it just may look different from activism in other democracies.
The book provides a formidable array of issue areas, but one area where it is thin is security-related activism. Anpo serves as the backdrop of the book and Iida’s chapter discusses resistance to Article 9 revision, but no other chapter focuses on security issues. One issue area where there has been security-related invisible activism in the post-Anpo protest era is, ironically, Anpo and the US bases in Japan. Activism against the US bases in Okinawa in the post-anti-Anpo protest era intensified after 1995 following a sexual assault there committed by US soldiers, yet there is only a cursory mention of Okinawa in the book, despite its rich history of activism. Despite this omission, the book provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary Japanese activism and is an important read for anyone interested in the topic.
Charmaine N. Willis
Old Dominion University, Norfolk