Heliocracy: A Comprehensive Reevaluation of Japanese Political History

Abstract

Who governs? This question has hounded scholars of Japan Studies of the modern era. Some have argued that it is the bureaucracy that governs. Others claim that it is a combination of corporations and the bureaucracy. However, one thing that remains a constant in the claims by scholars is that Japan is a democracy, and that while there are certain factions – be that the bureaucracy or the political system – that have more say than others, the actual regime-type is a “democracy.” This dissertation challenges the preexisting notion of Japan being a democracy, but furthermore, argues that there is an intrinsic necessity to reevaluate ideological labels that have lost their original meanings, and. These require a fresh effort to better explain the political history of Japan. This study tackles this challenge in two major ways. The first section will examine concepts of democracy from a sociological and epistemological framework, and proposes for the creation of a new regime-type, which more accurately characterizes and explains who governs in Japan. The second section will then take the new theory extrapolated in the preceding section, and historically analyze Japanese governance from the pre-modern era to contemporary times, tying each and every facet of Japanese society. Both of these sections raise numerous questions for further research, foster opportunities to discuss and reevaluate narratives and challenge assumptions that have been seen as givens.