External ideas or traditional values? A reappraisal of Japanese ‘neoliberal’ reforms

Abstract

In Japan, the so-called neoliberal-inspired transition generally refers to an ideological agenda. However, one should distinguish between neoliberal reforms carried out in accordance with a political agenda and the genuine local evolution of ideas based on the influence of foreign thinkers. By leveraging key notions such as ‘individual responsibility’ (jiko sekinin), ‘self-help’ (jijo), ‘mutual aid’ (kyōjo) and ‘public aid’ (kōjo), this paper accounts for older roots of Japanese-style neoliberalism. It highlights how, throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, predating current liberal norms, certain notions preceded contemporary liberal ideas and served as a discursive framework, while others became intertwined with ‘foreign’ ideas as they permeated the political discourse. It illuminates how shorter-term politics characterized by conflicts of interest and political strategies fit within longer-term political notions and their ideological evolution.

Keywords:

• Neoliberalism
• ideology
• reforms
• political agenda
• individual responsibility
• self-help
• mutual aid
• public aid

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 For a typology of neoliberal views and their relationships to democratic regimes, see especially the special issue of the Review of Economic Philosophy, 16/1 (June 2015), a volume edited by Gwendal Châton and Sébastien Carré.

2 What exactly is neoliberalism? The Conversation, November 2, 2017: https://theconversation.com/what-exactly-is-neoliberalism-84755

3 Nishiyama had received his doctorate at the University of Chicago under the supervision of Hayek before he joined Friedman’s team as a postdoctoral fellow: clearly one has to retrace these genealogies.

4 Let us provide an example: the concept of ‘gapponshugi’ has been discussed (e.g., Kikawa and Fridenson 2019, initially in Japanese, later translated into English) to emphasize the historical continuity of so-called ‘Ethical Capitalism’ back to figures such as Shibuzawa Eiichi. We advocate a methodology that tracks down the evolution of such concepts and, for this paper, we choose to focus on ‘self-help’ (jijo) alongside ‘jiko sekinin’; We hold that the way ‘responsibility’ is regarded is key.

5 Statement of the Prime Minister, September 16, 2020. https://japan.kantei.go.jp/99_suga/statement/202009/_00002.html (Last accessed on May 31, 2022)

6 Waga tō no seisaku bijon to Heisei 24-nendo yosan (The Policy Vision of Our Party and the FY2012 Budget).

7 Yves Tiberghien has used the term ‘policy entrepreneurs’ to describe individuals or groups who play a proactive and influential role in shaping and promoting specific policy ideas or initiatives within the political sphere. These individuals are not necessarily government officials or policymakers but can be academics, activists, experts, or other stakeholders who champion particular policy solutions (Tiberghien 2014).

8 The role Kōyama Ken-ichi (1933-1997), a social scientist who taught social engineering at Gakushūin University, played in the political arena has been documented in the existing literature (Ōtake 1994; Nakakita 2014). There is a growing interest in the role of intellectuals in the study of Japanese politics.

9 Kumon Shunpei (1935-) was a professor of sociology and Satō Seizaburō (1932-1999) was a professor of political science both of them at The University of Tokyo. They were members of the ‘PSR [Policy Science Research]’ (seisaku kagaku kenkyū-kai), a semi-institutionalized council sponsored by the Cabinet Research Office (naikaku chōsa-shitsu), since 1971 (Shigaki 2019: 89-90). As revealed in the private papers of Shigaki Minrō, a founding member of the Cabinet Research Office, the Japanese intelligence agency had been paying a list of ‘non-leftist’ scholars ‘commissions’ to engage in ‘research’ (Shigaki 2019).

10 The official author of the book was the editing committee of the LDP books for education, but journalists revealed that the actual writers were the following four professors: Kōyama Ken-ichi, Kumon Shunpei, Satō Seizaburō, and Kōsaka Masataka (Mainichi shinbun seiji-bu 1986: 22).

11 ‘A vigorous welfare state’ had been a catchphrase for welfare policy reform since the mid-1970s. It was understood that, if the society was vigorous enough to sustain itself without governmental assistance, it could replace the welfare state. Kumon, Satō, and Kōyama were the actual authors of Japanese-style Welfare Society published by the LDP in 1979.

12 Katō was in the aforementioned list of scholars who received ‘commissions’ from the Cabinet Research Office since the early 1960s (Shigaki 2019: 156-157). In spite of his political influence, he is understudied unduly by historians and political scientists.

13 The awarding organisation. Suntory Foundation, as well as the prize, was founded in 1979 based on a plan worked out by playwright Yamazaki Masakazu (Mikuriya, et al. 2017: 212-218).

14 Submissions of First Proposal for the Promotion of Regulatory Reform, December 11, 2001 https://japan.kantei.go.jp/koizumiphoto/2001/12/11kisei_e.html (Last accessed on May 31, 2022). General Policy Speech by Prime Minister Koizumi to the 156^th Session of the Diet, January 31, 2003 https://japan.kantei.go.jp/koizumispeech/2003/01/31sisei_e.html (Last accessed on May 31, 2022).

15 Chairman Okuda’s Press Conference, March 30, 2006.

16 Most of Menger’s Nachlass is at Hitotsubashi University (another part is at Duke University, NC). Few foreigners and a handful of Japanese scholars explored, catalogued and commented the collection of 20,000 volumes approx. many of them filled with Menger’s own manuscript annotations (Kauder 1959, Campagnolo 2000, Campagnolo 2008, Yagi 1993, Yagi 2011, Hagemann, Ikeda, and Nishizawa 2010). Those notes clarify not only many Hayekian ideas but several aspects of contemporary liberalism from insights by the Austrian founder.

Additional information

Funding

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (22K01355).

Notes on contributors

Adrienne Sala

Adrienne Sala is at Waseda University and French Research Institute on Japan at Maison Franco-Japonaise. Email: [email protected]

Nobuo Haruna

Nobuo Haruna is at Institute of Japan Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

Gilles Campagnolo

Gilles Campagnolo is at CNRS, Sorbonne Institute for Law and Philosophy, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University.