Citation

Mulgan AG. Japan Forum 2010; 21(2): 183-207.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010)

DOI

10.1080/09555801003679108

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The circumstances in which Japan's Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Matsuoka Toshikatsu, took his own life in May 2007 highlight two under-researched aspects of political corruption in Japan: the connection between bureaucrat-led bid-rigging (kansei dangō) and political donations to Diet members from public works contractors; and the arena of politicians' political expenses, which provide opportunities for politicians to hide expenditure on illegal activities such as vote-buying. While suicide is a rare outcome of political scandal for major political figures such as Matsuoka, political corruption remains an endemic feature of Japanese politics. The conventional explanations of this phenomenon remain relevant in spite of electoral reform. However, Matsuoka's case highlights the pivotal position of the politician-bureaucrat nexus in facilitating the practice of 'money politics' and therefore the bureaucracy's role as a major institutional pillar of corruption. Matsuoka privatized public administration for his own political purposes, specializing in one of Japan's last sanctuaries - forestry public works - as a source of funding. While the legal system has been strengthened in the area of bureaucratic corruption and dangō, changes to provisions on politicians' political expenditures reflect the ad hoc nature of government attempts to tackle the political corruption issue. © 2009 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Language: en

Keywords

dangō; forestry public works; money politics; political brokers; political corruption; politician-bureaucrat nexus