these there have been relatively few. The careers
of bureaucrat and politician were not mutually
exclusive, and it helps to understand their close
relationship when the careers of ministers be-
tween 1955 and 1980 are examined. Former
bureaucrats held the office of prime minister for
no less than twenty out of these twenty-five years.
In dealings with business elites and with fi-
nancial policy the bureaucrats of a number of
financial institutions have played a leading role,
pre-eminent among them the Japan Development
Bank and the Export–Import Bank, working with
the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Inter-
national Trade and Industry (MITI). Numerous
other agencies play a part, including the Science
and Technology Agency. Rivalry between these
institutions is endemic, which makes coordination
difficult. Japanese government is not therefore,
as it is frequently believed to be, an efficient, well-
oiled machine. Errors are made – for example, the
neglect until recently of the environmental con-
sequences of industrial growth – and it can take
a long time before decisions are reached. Despite
these drawbacks, the Japanese political, bureau-
cratic and business elites for four decades since
the war contained enough men of outstanding
vision and ability to propel Japan’s phenomenal
economic growth.
During these early years Japan’s unique busi-
ness organisation served Japan well. The Federa-
tion of Economic Organisations (Keidanren) was
founded in 1946 at the nadir of Japan’s industrial
fortunes and rapidly developed wide national and
international interests, maintaining close contacts
with bureaucrats and the ruling party. The Japan
Federation of Employers deals with employer–
employee relations, when necessary taking a
leading role in fighting labour demands. Another
influential body, which is independent but works
closely with the bureaucracy, is the Japan Chamber
of Commerce and Industry. All these trade organ-
isations publicise their views on national policy and
exert great influence on the political process. This
is not unconnected with the huge financial contri-
butions that they make to the Liberal Democratic
Party, to groups and even to individuals within the
party. The other smaller, non-communist parties
have benefited to a lesser degree from business
contributions. Nor are bureaucrats immune from
more subtle forms of business ‘patronage’. What
businessmen want from government is to be able
to conduct their operations as profitably as possible
at home and abroad with the minimum of interfer-
ence – in other words, capitalist enterprise with
government providing incentives, information, tax
breaks and so on, restricting imports and leaving
the door open for exports. Government, in other
words, is required to create an environment in
which businesses may flourish.
During the first decade after the war, a number
of parties competed for power, most of them con-
servative, though there were also socialist and
communist parties. The socialists, in coalition
with conservatives, actually held power for a few
months in 1947 and 1948. The threat that, with
a more united left, the Japanese Socialist Party
might return to power overcame the differences
among the various conservative parties and drove
them to form in November 1955 the Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP). But the left split again,
and from 1955 to 1990 was unable to mount an
effective challenge or to offer a credible alterna-
tive administration to the LDP. This enabled the
LDP to form the government on its own or with
minor allies following the twelve elections held
between 1958 and 1990. Only twice, in 1976 and
1979, did the LDP fail to win an absolute major-
ity in the House of Representatives and then only
just; the opposition was far too split to form an
1
THE PROSPEROUS PACIFIC RIM I 645
Japanese emperor Hirohito. A role to which he was
unaccustomed – mortal. © Bettmann/Corbis
