Co-Publshed by ANU E Press and Asa Pacfic Press The Australan Natonal Unversty Canberra ACT 0200, Australa Emal: [email protected] Web: http://epress.anu.edu.au © Aurela George Mulgan 2006 Ths work s copyrght. Apart from those uses whch may be permtted under the Copyright Act 1968 as amended, no part may be reproduced by any process wthout wrtten permsson from the publsher. The vews n ths book do not represent those of Asa Pacfic Press or the Crawford School of Economcs and Government at The Australan Natonal Unversty. Natonal Lbrary of Australa Catalogung n Publcaton entry Mulgan, Aurela George. Power and Pork: a Japanese poltcal lfe Bblography. Includes ndex. ISBN 0 7315 3757 2 (pbk) ISBN 1 920942 33 5 (onlne) 1. Japan - Poltcs and government. 2. Japan - Economc polcy. I. Ttle. 320.952 Edtors: Brdget Madment, Clare Shamer, Paula Sutton Cover desgn: Anne D Nallo Desgn Prnted n Australa by Unversty Prntng Servce, The Australan Natonal Unversty, Canberra Frst edton © 2006 ANU E Press and Asa Pacfic Press v CONTENTS Tables vi Abbreviations vii Acknowledgments viii Preface ix 1 Beyond generalisation 1 2 Becoming a politician 6 3 Accommodating electoral reform 50 4 Exercising power as a nôrin giin 73 5 Exercising power as a nôrin zoku 121 6 The identical twins of Nagata-chô 150 7 Electoral vicissitudes 204 8 Conclusion 251 Bibliography 254 Index 267 v TABLES 2.1 Farm household composition/votes cast for Matsuoka by municipality in Kumamoto (1) in 1990 Lower House election 22 2.2 Farm household composition/votes cast for Matsuoka by municipality in Kumamoto (1) in 1993 Lower House election 32 2.3 Ranking of Kumamoto Prefecture as an agricultural producer/by commodity and farm/forestry households (per cent), 2000 39 3.1 Farm household composition/votes cast for Matsuoka by municipality in Kumamoto (3) in 1996 Lower House election 58 3.2 Farm household composition/votes cast for Matsuoka by municipality in Kumamoto (3) in 2000 62 4.1 Matsuoka’s Committee Memberships et cetera 111 6.1 Top 10 contributors to Matsuoka Toshikatsu New Century Politics and Economics Discussion Association 164 6.2 Top 10 individual contributors to Matsuoka Toshikatsu New Century Politics and Economics Discussion Association 165 6.3 Companies contributing to Matsuoka and Muneo 167 vi ABBREVIATIONS AFF Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries ALIC Agriculture and Livestock Industries Corporation BSE Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy DPJ Democratic Party of Japan FTA Free Trade Agreement JCP Japanese Communist Party JETRO Japan External Trade Organization JSP Japanese Socialist Party LDP Liberal Democratic Party LIPC Livestock Industry Promotion Corporation MAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries MAF Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry METI Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry MMD Multi-member district MOF Ministry of Finance MoFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs NHK Nippon Hôsô Kyôkai [Japan Broadcasting Association] OB ‘Old Boy’ PARC Policy Affairs Research Council SMD Single-member district WTO World Trade Organization vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to thank the National Library of Australia in Canberra for providing such pleasant sanctuary for several months in 2005, which enabled much of the research for this book to be undertaken. Under the conditions of a Harold White Fellowship, the library granted privileged access to the Japanese Collection. Library staff of the Collection, especially Mayumi Shinozaki, greatly assisted in obtaining materials from the Diet Library in Japan and in furnishing all kinds of research advice and support. An Australian Research Council Discovery Project funded valuable research assistance, which was provided by Reiko Take. Maree Tait showed great patience and forbearance during the inevitable hiccups in the publication process, while Richard Mulgan, the unsung hero of this book, deserves my undying gratitude for the index and his usual illuminating intelligence, which contributed to the book in so many different ways. The book is dedicated to Sasha and Basil, who will always be greatly missed. viii PREFACE Japanese politics is notoriously opaque and corrupt. It is not surprising, therefore, that few studies reveal what really goes on in the political lives of Japanese politicians. This is one such exposé, the fruits of intensive research into the public and private political life of a member of the Japanese Diet. It is an extraordinary tale about an ordinary politician who exemplifies what it is to be a parliamentarian affiliated with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in present-day Japan. Like the majority of LDP Diet members, the politician at the centre of this study represents a clutch of special interests whilst striving to direct public resources to his own electorate. As a veteran lawmaker and policy specialist, he also belongs to a ‘policy tribe’ (zoku), regularly intervening in the making of government policy and interfering in the administrative affairs of the bureaucracy. As a tribe Diet member he has achieved the ultimate goal, appointed as minister over the very ministry that he sought to influence from within the ranks of the LDP. This is a story of political failures and of political successes, a tale of ambition furthered by the successful delivery of benefits to constituents and supporters, but also thwarted by suspicion and allegations of corrupt behaviour. In the brave new world of Japanese politics opened up by Prime Minister Koizumi, such an independent policy entrepreneur and political fixer appeared to represent the old style of LDP politician, whose days might be numbered. However, his accession to the ministry in the first Abe cabinet, as this book went to press, underlines the resilience of traditional patterns of Japanese politics. Only the final chapter of this political life, which is yet to be written, will reveal the extent to which a new model of Japanese politics has taken root. ix x BEYOND GENERALISATION 1 1 BEYOND GENERALISATION The story told in this book—or rather the inside story of a political life that now spans 16 years—is neither pure biography nor pure scholarly treatise. It falls somewhere in between. It is not pure biography because it is only concerned with political phenomena. It focuses on the political career, connections, performance and activities of one of Japan’s Diet politicians, Matsuoka Toshikatsu, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) member in Japan’s House of Representatives for Kumamoto No. 3 district. His private life outside politics is only of incidental interest to this account. Some may feel that such an approach will omit potentially the most absorbing and interesting details, but, as this book will show, not only is politics Matsuoka’s life, but there is intriguing detail aplenty in his political machinations. The book delves into Matsuoka’s early life and career, but only to provide important background details and to help explain Matsuoka’s decision to enter politics. His reputation in Nagata-chô1 for liking women, for greeting female Diet members with unwelcome comments and for sweet-talking hostesses in high-class nightclubs2 are the only comments that will be made about his private predilections. As for Matsuoka’s personality, this is not explicitly the focus of analysis, but sometimes glimpses of it are revealed—in the descriptions of his relations with bureaucrats, businessmen, other politicians, local government figures and organisational leaders, and also in accounts of what he said and what he did—in words that are his and theirs, not mine. Indeed, Matsuoka has both a public persona and a private personality, and the two do not necessarily match. The persona he presents to the outside world is that of someone who is highly principled, and who works tirelessly on behalf 2 POWER AND PORK of his constituents, supporting groups and various important causes. Privately, as a dealmaker and political fixer, by all accounts, he is completely different, aggressive3 with a reputation for shouting, bullying and violence. The book is not pure scholarly treatise because it eschews generalisation, or, at least, uses generalisation only in order to elucidate Matsuoka’s activities and behaviour, rather than as the main explanatory device. The book does not, therefore, adopt a scientific approach in the sense that this terminology is normally used. At the same time, the study aspires to be labelled political science because it analyses political events and facts, and seeks to understand the nature of Japanese politics not through generalisation, but rather through the rich description of individual example. The methodological approach adopted in this book is that of ‘thick’ description, a research technique borrowed from social anthropology,4 which weds ‘the tools of modern social science…to the artful narrative skills of the humanities’.5 Thick description is an approach that goes beyond generalisation and is designed to yield insights that cannot be captured by universal statements about particular phenomena. It is possible for an individual story to provide deeper and more rounded understanding than any generalisation can offer. Such an approach is underpinned by the realisation that, even amongst scholars of Japanese politics, we often know the general contours of an institution or practice, but we do not have a sufficiently precise or inside knowledge of it. Concentrating on an individual politician is unusual in studies of Japanese politics unless the work is strictly biographical or focuses on dominant leaders or iconic figures, such as Tanaka Kakuei.6 Little has been written about the political lives of individual, ordinary Diet members7 in spite of the fact that, as everywhere, politics in Japan is shaped by human factors. As Curtis wisely observed: ‘Decisions made by individuals…are the direct cause of what happens in politics’.8 While the book offers an account of the political life and activities of an individual Japanese politician, it is hoped that the analysis will generate insights into Japanese politics as a whole.