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Political Recruitment: The Case of Japanese Prefectural Assemblymen*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Young C. Kim
Young C. Kim*
Affiliation:
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
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Extract

This paper is an attempt to specify and assess the significance of a variety of factors that condition the recruitment of Japanese prefectural assemblymen. The term recruitment is used here to refer to the entire process involved in a person's induction into a position. Since the aspirants must formally undertake candidacy for the prefectural assembly elections, this paper is in essence concerned with those factors which significantly shape the processes of their candidacy and elections.

Data used here were gathered in Japan during the period of June, 1965 to February, 1966 and are mostly of three kinds: 1) official documents such as election returns, 2) semiofficial surveys and polls concerning electoral behavior, and 3) data obtained through interviews which the author conducted with a sample of prefectural assemblymen and other local government officials in Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures. Whenever pertinent and available, comparable data regarding other prefectures and Japan as a whole will be given. They serve as norms whereby the data on Chiba and Kanagawa can be appropriately evaluated.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 61 , Issue 4 , December 1967 , pp. 1036 - 1052
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1967

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Footnotes

*

I would like to thank Professors G. Almond, R. Beardsley, S. Hoki, T. Nakano, R. Scalapino, K. Steiner, J. Wahlke and R. Ward for their valuable comments and assistance given at different stages of the author's research on Japanese prefectural government and politics. This paper is part of a forthcoming larger study.

References

1 Interviews were conducted with 164 persons, most of whom are officials of national, prefectural, city and town governments. A total of twenty prefectural assemblymen, representing all the parliamentary groups in the two prefectural assemblies, were interviewed. There is one Communist Party member represented in the Kanagawa Assembly, who refused interview. Interviews in most cases lasted two to three hours.

2 Computed from the following sources: Iinkai, Kanagawa Ken Senkyo Kanri, Chihō Senkyo no Kiroku (hereafter CSNK), 1955, pp. 54–61Google Scholar; CSNK, 1959, pp. 49–54; CSNK, 1963, pp. 79–84; Iinkai, Chiba Ken Senkyo Kanri, Senkyo Kekka Shirabe (hereafter SKS), 1955, pp. 118–129Google Scholar; SKS, 1959, pp. 74–83; SKS, 1963, pp. 51–60.

3 Ibid.

4 CSNK, 1955, pp. 64–65; CSNK, 1959, pp. 54–55; CSNK, 1963, p. 85; SKS, 1955, pp. 112–113; SKS, 1959, p. 61; SKS, 1963, p. 38. There are three legal requirements for candidacy: the minimum age of 25, residence in a locality for three consecutive months and a deposit of ¥ 30,000.

5 SKS, 1955, pp. 114–117; SKS, 1959, p. 85; SKS, 1963, p. 62; CSNK, 1955, pp. 68–69; CSNK, 1959, p. 68; CSNK, 1963, pp. 92–94. Jichishō (Senkyo Kyoku). Chihō Senkyo Kekka Shirabe, 1963, p. 15.

6 This is not to deny the incidence of intervention by national Diet members or of the prefectural party headquarters' taking a more active part. In the case of Kanagawa, the local chapters of labor unions sometimes participate in the nomination process. The writer was impressed by discrepancies in the views held among legislators and party officials. They were not altogether clear where the formal authority in nomination matters lie, though all agreed that the district party organization in fact makes the decision.

7 CSNK, 1959, pp. 54–55; CSNK, 1963, p. 85; SKS, 1959, p. 61, 85; SKS, 1963, p. 38, 62.

8 Kōshoku Senkyo Hō, Articles 12, 15–18. For the relationship between the size of electoral district and electoral chances of different political parties, see Hoshino, M., “Dai Yonkai Tōitsu Chihō Senkyo o megru Shomondai,” Toshi Mondai, V. 50, #8 (08, 1959), 7–9.Google Scholar

9 SKS, 1963, pp. 39–40; CSNK, 1963, pp. 86–89.

10 Kōshoku Senkyo Hō, Article 96.

11 SKS, 1963, pp. 51–60; CSNK, 1963, pp. 92–94.

12 Computed from the sources cited in Footnote 2.

13 Jichishō, op. cit., p. 4.

14 On amalgamation, see Steiner, Kurt, Local Government in Japan (Stanford Calif., Stanford University Press, 1965), pp. 186–194, 203–206.Google Scholar

15 Jichishō, op. cit., p. 80.

16 Steiner, op. cit., pp. 432–437.

17 Chosajo, Kokuritsu Yoron, Chihō Jichi ni kansuru Yoron Chōsa, 1952, pp. 58–59.Google Scholar

18 Chosajo, Kokuritsu Yoron, Chihō Jichi ni kansuru Yoron Chōsa, 1951, p. 7.Google Scholar

19 Jichichō, , Chihō Jichi ni isuite no Yoron Chōsa, 1954, p. 8.Google Scholar

20 Renmei, Kōmei Senkyo, Tōitsu Chihō Senkyo no Jittai, 1964, pp. 38–40.Google Scholar

21 For example, only six percent of Kagoshima respondents (N = 676) named the prefectural as sembly elections to be the one in which they were most interested. Forty-two percent mentioned city-town-village council elections and twenty-five percent chose the House of Representatives elections. In the same study, eight percent claimed to be more interested in prefectural politics than any others, while fifty-seven percent chose city-town-village politics and twenty-six percent national politics. Iinkai, Kagoshima Ken Senkyo Kanri, Kagohima Kenmin no Seiji Ishiki to Kōmei Senkyo Undō Koka ni tsuite, 1965, pp. 84–89, 137–143.Google Scholar

22 Steiner, op. cit., pp. 374–440; Yamada, S., “Senkyo ni arawareta Seiji Ishiki,” Gakkai, Nihon Seiji (ed.), Seiji Ishiki no Riron to Chōsa (1965), pp. 180–188Google Scholar; (Senkyo Bu), Jichichō, Chihō Senkyo Kekka Shirabe, 1955, pp. 58–61Google Scholar; Jichishō, op. cit., p. 64; SKS, 1963, pp. 39–45; CSNK, 1963, pp. 86–89.

23 Iinkai, Miyagi Ken Senkyo Kanri, Kōmei Senkyo Jittai Chōsa, 1963, pp. 27–28Google Scholar, appendix p. 17.

24 Kokuritsu Yoron Chosajo, 1951, op. cit., pp. 9–11.

25 Kagoshima Ken Senkyo Kanri Iinkai, op. cit., pp. 73–76.

26 Miyagi Ken Senkyo Kanri Iinkai, op. cit., pp. 50–51.

27 Kokuritsu Yoron Chosajo, op. cit., 1952, pp. 41–42.

28 Kōmei Senkyo Renmei, op. cit., pp. 8–10.

29 Ibid., pp. 15–17. For a discussion of influence of various groups, see Kobayashi, N., Shinohara, H., Soma, M., Senkyo (1960), pp. 76–90.Google Scholar

30 Iinkai, Chiba Ken Senkyo Kanri, Chiba Ken ni okeru Seiji Ishiki no Jittai Chōsa, 1962, pp. 210–234.Google Scholar

31 Kōmei Senkyo Renmei, op. cit., p. 18.

32 Iinkai, Chiba Ken Senkyo Kanri, Chiba Ken ni okeru … op. cit., pp. 234–240.Google Scholar

33 Iinkai, Fukuoka Ken Senkyo Kanri, Chikuhō Chieki Jūmin no Seiji Ishiki, 1964, pp. 30–33.Google Scholar

34 Ibid., p. 35. For the voters' attitude toward Diet members personal supporters' associations, see Shingikai, Senkyo Seido, Senkyo no Jittai ni kansuru Yoron Chōsa. 1965, pp. 27–30.Google Scholar

35 SKS, 1963, pp. 32–37, 51–56. For an analysis of this problem with regard to House of Representative elections, see Shibuya, T., “Tokuhyō Jōkyō yori mitaru Tōhyō Kōi,” Niigata Daigaku Hōkei Ronshū, V. 8, #1 (10, 1958), 42–53Google Scholar; S. Yamada, op. cit., pp. 188–193.

36 Kōmei Senkyo Renmei, op. cit., p. 27, 147; Iinkai, Chiba Ken Senkyo Kanri, Chiba Ken ni okeru …, op. cit., pp. 188–190.Google ScholarChōsabu, Kanagawa Ken Kikaku, Dai Nikai Kanagawa Kensei Yoron Chōsa, 1965, p. 61.Google Scholar In this connection, see a discussion of “local notable politics,” Clubok, Alfred B., Electoral Politics in Rural Japan (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan, 1962), pp. 3–5, 70–84, 146–185.Google Scholar

37 Kōmei Senkyo Renmei, op. cit., pp. 24–25.

38 Miyake, I., AibaKinoshita, J. Kinoshita, J., “Kotonaru Reberu no Senkyo ni okeru Tōhyō Kōdō no Kenkyū (3),” Hōgakuronsō, V. 73, #4 (07, 1963), 112–114.Google Scholar

39 Iinkai, Gifu Ken Senkyo Kanri, Gifu Ken ni okeru Senkyo to Kenmin no Seiji Ishiki, 1963, pp. 34–38Google Scholar; Miyagi Ken Senkyo Kanri Iinkai, op. cit., pp. 33–34; Iinkai, Chiba Ken Senkyo Kanri, Chiba Ken ni okeru …, op. cit., pp. 168–181Google Scholar; Kagoshima Ken Senkyo Kanri Iinkai, op. cit., pp. 77–89; Miyake, Kinoshita, Aiba, op. cit., p. 91. For the relationship between “basic political and social attitudes” and party affiliation, see Miyake, Kinoshita and Aiba, “Seiji Ishiki Kōzōron no Kokoromi,” Nihon Seiji Gakkai (ed.), op. cit., pp. 62–65.

40 Renmei, Kömei Senkyo, Shimane Ken ni okeru Nōsonbu Jūmin no Tōhyō Kōdō, 1965, p. 46, 58.Google Scholar

41 Miyake, Kinoshita, Alba, “Kotonaru Reberu …,” op. cit., p. 117. See also an earlier article by the same authors, “Kotonaru Reberu no Senkyo ni okeru Tōhyō Kōdō no Kenkyū (2), Hōgakuronsō, V. 73, #2 (May, 1963), 107–108. See also Nakamura, K. and Horie, F., “Kinkō Nōson ni okeru Jūmin no Seiji Ishiki,” Hōgaku Kenkyū, V. 34, #4 (04, 1961), 36–51.Google Scholar

42 In this connection, see Kaigi, Heiwa Keizai Keikaku, Seitō Shiji to Seiji Ishiki no Dōkō ni isuite no Chōsa Hōkoku, 1964, pp. 84–99.Google Scholar

43 Miyake, Kinoshita, Aiba, “Kotonaru Reberu … (2),” op. cit., pp. 122–126.

44 Iinkai, Shimane Ken Senkyo Kanri, Seiji Ishiki to Chihō Senkyo no Mondaiten, 1963, p. 50, 97, 110.Google Scholar

45 Miyake, Kinoshita, Aiba, “Kotonaru Reberu … (3),” op. cit., pp. 114–115.

46 Ibid., pp. 98–104.

47 Compiled from the data obtained at the assembly secretariats.

48 In a Kagawa study none of 11 assemblymen (10 LDP and 1 SP) interviewed by a Kyoto University team showed an aspiration for higher office. Virtually no one expressed willingness to remain in the present post for a long time, Kenkyūkai, Kyoto Daigaku Seijigaku, “Chinō Seijika no Jittai Chōsa,” Hōgakuronsō, V. 67, #3, 74–81.Google Scholar A computation shows that as of 1958, 18% of LDP Diet membership and 27% of the SP Diet membership were ex-prefectural assemblymen. The relative proportion of the ex-assemblymen has in recent years somewhat declined in the case of the LDP while that of the SP has slightly increased, Scalapino, Robert A. & Masumi, Junnosuke, Parties and Politics in Contemporary Japan (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1962), pp. 56–57, 165–167.Google Scholar

49 Jichishō, op. cit., p. 19, 79; CSNK, 1955, p. 67, 71; CSNK, 1959, pp. 56–57, 66; CSNK, 1963, pp. 85, 79–84; SKS, 1955, pp. 114, 117; SKS, 1959, pp. 61, 85; SKS, 1963, pp. 38, 62.

50 It should be noted that this classification used by the Autonomy Ministry does not reflect either the fact of public service experience or the fact of incumbency.

51 Jiohishō, op. cit., pp. 72, 78.

52 Educational background of assemblymen is:

53 Jichishō, op. cit., 17–18, 68–71, 76–77; and compiled from the sources cited in Footnote 2.

54 For a similar finding in Kanagawa, see Yagishita, I., “Seiji Ishiki ni okeru Chiekiteki Yōin,” Yokohama Shiritsu Daigaku Ronsō, V. 13, #2–3 (03, 1962), 145.Google Scholar

55 In their perception the confidence which they enjoy within their religious organization is the crucial determinant of their electoral success. This is not to deny the tremendous energy they expend on establishing personal contacts with their constituents. The difference is that they do not, verbally at least, perceive the relevance of these activities to their re-election. For them such activities constitute a faithful implementation of their religious-political doctrine.

56 The extent of labor union involvement in prefectural politics can be seen in the following statistics: In the 1963 elections, 56.8 percent of the total number of SP candidates in the entire country and 63.6 percent of all the SP winners were from the labor unions. In the case of DSP, 27.7 percent of its candidates and 21.4 percent of its winners came from the labor unions. 15.4 percent of the Communist Party candidates and 18.2 percent of the total number of CP winners were from the labor unions. Some labor union-backed candidates ran as independents and the percentage of successful candidacy was 65 percent for SP, 44 percent for DSP, and 15 percent for the CP, Chōsashitsu, Naikaku, Nihon no Kumiai no Seiji Katsudo, pp. 96–101.Google Scholar

57 SKS, 1963, pp. 62–66; CSNK, 1963, p. 71, 97–100.