Timeline                                           ix
Annual Average Exchange Rates                      xiv
Acronyms and Abbreviations                         xv
Introduction                                       1  (27)
      Consequences of the nuclear crisis:          8  (3)
      agriculture, fisheries
      Consequences of the nuclear crisis:          11 (1)
      Fukushima residents
      Consequences of the nuclear crisis:          12 (2)
      Fukushima Daiichi workers
      `Information-sharing' is not a buzz-word     14 (1)
      in government agencies
      Institutional reforms postponed              15 (2)
      Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant: an    17 (3)
      impending disaster
      Where does the buck stop?                    20 (3)
      The same old story                           23 (2)
      The routes to responsibility                 25 (1)
      Perceptions of Japan Inc.: busting myths     25 (3)
    1 Independent Administrative Institutions:     28 (24)
    In Name Only
      The push for reforms: the perfect            31 (4)
      opportunity
      Reforms according to Koizumi: FILP           35 (1)
      Reforms according to Koizumi:                36 (2)
      enthusiastic support from the opposition
      The privatization of the Japan Highway       38 (2)
      Corporation: unenthusiastic support from
      the LDP and the ministries
      Special Corporations: consequences of        40 (1)
      amakudari
      The liquidation of a failed Special          41 (1)
      Corporation: Government Housing and Loan
      Guarantee Corporation
      The image of reform: Urban Development       42 (1)
      Corporation
      The image of reform: Japan National Oil      42 (1)
      Corporation
      The image of reform: Japan External Trade    43 (1)
      Organization
      Manipulation of operations to maintain       44 (2)
      JETRO
      The disguise: convincing the Japanese        46 (2)
      media
      The disguise: convincing the American        48 (1)
      media
      The disguise: convincing Koizumi             48 (1)
      JETRO's `core focus': sowing the seeds of    49 (1)
      the ministry
      Holding on to a good thing                   50 (2)
    2 Amakudari in the Ministries' IAIs, Public    52 (19)
    Corporations, Research Institutes and
    Affiliated Agencies: the Insidious Side
      No reforms in sight                          54 (2)
      Manifestations of amakudari: IAI/public      56 (2)
      corporations
      Issues arising in research institutes        58 (2)
      A consequence of amakudari in IAIs:          60 (1)
      bid-rigging
      A consequence of amakudari in an IAI:        61 (4)
      incompetent management of the Social
      Insurance Agency
      Scandal and super-amakudari in a             65 (4)
      government corporation: Japan Post
      Everything old is new again                  69 (2)
    3 `Information-Sharing' is Not a Buzz-Word     71 (8)
    in Japan: Press Clubs Insulate an Insular
    Political Economy
      Press clubs: information cartels control     72 (4)
      the flow of information
      The whole truth and nothing but the truth    76 (2)
      Press clubs and Japan Inc.                   78 (1)
    4 Elements Intrinsic to Japan's Political      79 (29)
    Economy: Interlocking Interests between an
    Elite Bureaucracy and Big Business
      Power struggle between politicians and       81 (3)
      bureaucrats
      The origins of the power of the              84 (3)
      bureaucracy and government links with big
      business
      The bureaucracy's power defined              87 (1)
      Collaboration between the bureaucracy and    88 (1)
      big business: ministerial guidance and
      mercantilism (1898-1919)
      Japan's expansion in East Asia, outward      89 (3)
      investment and the benefits to big
      business
      Recession: the Ministry of Commerce and      92 (2)
      Industry and industrial rationalization
      The alliance between MCI and big             94 (1)
      business: the birth of `administrative
      guidance'
      The Manchurian Incident                      95 (2)
      The Second World War: the intensification    97 (1)
      of ministerial powers
      Enduring changes: corporate culture          98 (1)
      Reverse reforms and Japan Inc.               98 (5)
      Small shock, big shock: nuclear energy as    103(2)
      a national priority
      Mechanisms to implement guidance             105(3)
    5 The DNA of Japan's Post-war Political        108(35)
    System: Ultra-conservative to the Core
      The `1955 system': the moneymen, Nobusuke    112(7)
      Kishi/Kakuei Tanaka (1950-76)
        Nobusuke Kishi                             112(2)
        Kakuei Tanaka: the godfather of            114(3)
        pork-barrel patronage
        Shin Kanemaru: post-Tanaka moneyman        117(2)
      Right-wing ultra-conservative politics:      119(11)
      in the family domain
        Junichiro Koizumi                          119(1)
        Shinzo Abe                                 120(3)
        Yasuo Fukuda                               123(1)
        Taro Aso                                   124(2)
        Yukio Hatoyama                             126(1)
        Ichiro Ozawa: protege of Tanaka and        127(3)
        Kanemaru
      The Recruit scandal: interpersonal           130(2)
      networks of politicians, bureaucrats and
      big business
      The Ministry of Defense scandal:             132(4)
      interpersonal networks of politicians,
      bureaucrats and big business
      The right-wing ultraconservative mind-set    136(3)
      continues Yoshihiko Noda (30 August 2011-)
        Seiji Maehara                              137(2)
      Shintaro Ishihara: post-earthquake           139(2)
      neo-nationalism
      Ishihara's ardent admirers: Toru             141(2)
      Hashimoto and the Osaka Restoration Group
    6 Pork-Barrel Patronage in the Prefectures:    143(37)
    the Proliferation of Nuclear Power Plants
      Pushing nuclear in needy prefectures         147(10)
        Fukushima Prefecture                       150(1)
        Aomori Prefecture                          151(1)
        Aomori's no. 1 industry: nuclear power     152(5)
      The princes of pork-barrel patronage:        157(1)
      Kakuei Tanaka and Noboru Takeshita
      The godfather                                157(4)
        The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power       159(2)
        Plant: the art of pork-barrel patronage
      The town that can't say `no!'                161(2)
      Noboru Takeshita: bringing home the bacon    163(2)
      Shimane Nuclear Power Plant: public works    165(1)
      perpetuate more public works
      Ehime Prefecture: the Takeshita connection   165(5)
        Kato's connections to MEXT and METI:       168(1)
        textbook and MOX
        Ikata Nuclear Power Plant: money,          169(1)
        money, money
      The price of pork-barrel patronage           170(2)
      The power of money                           172(3)
      The power of the state                       175(5)
    7 Japan's Nuclear Crisis: the Routes to        180(19)
    Responsibility
      JOYO and FUGEN: trial and error              182(1)
      MONJU: more trials and errors                182(2)
      Mihama: still more errors                    184(1)
      Takahama: more errors but more MOX           185(2)
        Tokai-mura                                 185(2)
      The blame game                               187(3)
      Splitting NISA from METI: the image of       190(2)
      reform
      NISA: the tip of METI's nuclear tail         192(1)
      METI's nuclear progeny: IAIs, industrial     193(1)
      associations and research institutes
      The end of the line: IAIs, at the very       194(2)
      heart of government
      METI: the creative ministry: the route to    196(1)
      the renewable energy industrial sector
      Don't blame the bureaucrats, blame the       197(2)
      system!
    8 The Japan System: Indestructible but         199(24)
    Destructive
      Japan's first `lost decade'                  200(1)
      The first `lost decade': institutional       201(1)
      paralysis
      Japan's second lost decade: institutional    202(3)
      paralysis
      Earthquake-tsunami and nuclear crisis:       205(5)
      impact on industrial production
      Impact on sovereign debt: out-of-sight,      210(2)
      out-of-mind
      Political bickering: impact on rapid         212(2)
      recovery
      Too little too late?                         214(4)
      Japan Inc. is alive and well                 218(1)
      Back to basics: a variation on the `1955'    219(4)
      theme
Notes                                              223(11)
Select Bibliography                                234(2)
Index                                              236