New Studies in Modern Japan. Lanham; Boulder; New York; London: Lexington Books, 2017. xi, 297 pp. US$110.00, cloth. ISBN 978-1-4985-3792-6.
Stockwin and Ampiah begin this study of politics in contemporary Japan with a brief survey of the re-emergence of both right wing populism and authoritarianism around the world, which leads them to their central claim: “the election and continued incumbency of the Abe government signals a fundamental change in the politics, political economy, and conduct of foreign policy on the part of Japan” (2). According to Stockwin and Ampiah, Prime Minister Abe Shinzō’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is much less ideologically diverse than previous versions of that party, and the LDP aims “to assert the primacy of national identity, to revise the constitution, roll back crucial elements of the occupation settlement, bear down on human rights guarantees and important elements of democratic process, remove restrictions of freedom of action of the Self-Defense Force and establish Japan as what it called a ‘Normal State’” (9).
The first four chapters lay out the overall argument and paint a broad picture of changes in Japanese politics between the end of the occupation and today. The next five chapters outline and place in context recent changes in four different policy areas: political economy, constitutional revision, the Designated Secrets Law of 2013, the politics of World War II apologies in Japan, and the issue of collective self-defence. The final three chapters include an examination of Japan in relation to its neighbours, an examination of Japan’s relationship with the rest of the world, and a reassessment and critique of the idea of Japan as a reactive state.
Stockwin and Ampiah do an excellent job providing historical and political context to several of the debates currently animating Japanese politics. The strongest chapter in this book is chapter 6, which carefully analyzes the LDP’s 2012 proposed revisions to the constitution. In doing so, they effectively discuss both the history of the drafting of the constitution and the historical context behind many of the LDP’s proposed revisions.
In chapter 7, where they analyze the 2013 Designated Secrets Law, Stockwin and Ampiah make an unusual but ultimately very good decision. Although they are quite critical of the Designated Secrets Law and the damage that they fear it will do to freedom of the press in Japan, they also decide to include extensive reference to thoughtful correspondence from Kimura Sōta, a specialist in Japanese constitutional law and supporter of the law. This effort to present readers with both sides of a contentious issue further enriches the analysis in this book.
Stockwin and Ampiah also do a nice job discussing the history of party politics in Japan. They effectively address the conventional wisdom that in the post electoral reform years the LDP’s factions were non-ideological (24–25). They also shed light on the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)’s difficulty in governing Japan between 2009 and 2012 with an interesting and novel comparison—they compare the DPJ taking over the Japanese government after a long period of LDP rule with the Australian Labour Party taking over in Australia after defeating the conservative coalition that governed Australia between 1949 and 1972 (56–57). Their brief summary of the collapse of the Japan Socialist Party after its coalition government with the LDP is also well done (187).
As is perhaps unavoidable in a shared authoring project, Stockwin and Ampiah claim primary responsibility for different chapters (although they also gave one another input and, in some cases, made additions to chapters that the other was primarily responsible for) (viii). Thus, at times this book is unnecessarily repetitive. A few examples will illustrate this point. The LDP’s factions are effectively introduced on pages 24–25, and then are again explained from pages 77–79. The comfort women issue is explained on pages 166–173 and then again on pages 206–209. The issue of constitutional revision is the topic of chapter 6, but it is also introduced and discussed on pages 180–184. In none of these cases does the latter discussion make reference to the earlier one.
More substantially, although “contested nationalism” is in the title, Stockwin and Ampiah do not discuss that provocative phrase in the text of the book. At times their own interpretation seems to overstate the importance of nationalism to the current climate in Japan. For example, the concluding paragraph to their chapter on Abenomics begins with the observation that “[t]o Abe, the problem of China is just as important as Japan’s chronically ailing economy,” and they go on to suggest that concern with Japan’s position vis-à-vis China “might well be the primary factor compelling Abe to transform Japan’s economic fortunes” (113). This conclusion goes a bit beyond what the carefully and thoughtfully presented evidence in that chapter illustrates.
Finally, this book would have benefitted from a bit more attention to public opinion in Japan. Especially given that the elections won by Abe’s LDP have had historically low voter turnout, what does the Japanese public think about the direction that Abe’s LDP is taking Japan? This is an important question because, if the public is, by and large, not pleased with the LDP, then it is premature to talk about a new and more nationalist “2012 political system” (16).
Despite these relatively modest concerns, this is a book that outlines and provides historical context to many of the most important issues facing Japan today. It would be useful as a textbook in courses on the politics of Japan, politics in East Asia, and/or the comparative politics of advanced industrialized states, and would also be useful to those wanting thoughtful background on the challenges currently facing Japanese democracy.
Michael Strausz
Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, USA