Crises and Aftermath, 2009-Present

LDP majorities in Diet, 2003-2009

P.M. Koizumi Junichiro, 2001-06

Opposition weakness

Modest economic recovery

“Lehman Shock,” 2008-09

Economic recession

Exports fell 40%, Aug 2008.-Jan. 2009

GDP declined

-1.42% in 2008

-5.52% in 2009

Unemployment 5.5% in July 2009

LDP Defeat in 2009

Diet Lower House (480 seats) elections of Aug. 2009

LDP, 119 seats

DPJ coalition, 308 seats

Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ, former LDP members)

Social Democratic Party (Former JSP)

People’s New Party

Your Party Japan

Japan Communist Party

Reasons for LDP loss

World-wide recession, 2008

Japan's worst post-war recession

Electoral reforms of 1993

300 single-member districts

DPJ coalition coalition campaign promises

Bureaucratic reforms

Move U.S. airbase out of Okinawa

LDP can’t attract “Floating” voters w/o Koizumi

TV enhances importance of party leader image

DPJ Coalition

3 Prime Ministers, 2009-12

Slow economic recovery

Unable to deliver bureaucratic reforms

U.S. refusal to renegotiate moving airbase to North Okinawa

"Futenma: ‘The Most Dangerous Base in the World’"

Slow response to 3/11 Disaster

3/11 Disaster (March 11, 2011)

Earthquake & Tsunami

Northeastern Japan

Fukushima Dai-ichi meltdown

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPC)

Poor design of emergency electrical system

19,000 estimated killed

"Fukushima disaster: What happened at the nuclear plant?"

LDP Resurgence

Super majorities in upper and lower houses of Diet, 2012

DPJ incompetence

Lack of experience running government and bureaucracy

*Abe Shinzo (1954-2022), Prime Minister 2006-7, 2012-2020

“Legacy” politician

Grandson of *Kishi Nobusuke (PM 1957-60)

“Abenomics”

Stimulus spending

1.28% av. annual growth, 2010-19 (World Bank)

Perceived social crisis

Rise of temporary workers

16% of labor force in 1980s

37% of labor force in 2020

20% are males, often single

14% are single mothers

66% married women

Constitutional revisions?

Resistance within LDP

Resigns as P.M., 2020

Assassinated, 2022

Japan's Average Annual GDP Growth Rates (calculated based on World Bank)

1960s: 10.11%

1970s: 4.11%

1980s: 4.37%

1990s: 1.47%

2000s: 0.53%

2010s: 1.28%

Comparative GDP Growth Rates Per Decade (%), 1960-2019 (calculated based on World Bank)

“Typical” Japanese of 1990s

Workforce

*Sararī-man with lifetime employment under 25%

Factory worker, clerical, small shopkeepers 75+% of workforce

Female roles

More full-time female workers than housewives

Only half of female employees leave work after having children

3/4 of marriages for love

Average female age at marriage of 27

2nd highest in world

Average of 1.4 children/family (U.S. 2.09)

Graying population

Japan’s School Stats

99% literacy rate (U.S. 99%)

97% complete high school (U.S. 88%)

240 days of school (U.S. 180)

Uniform funding for schools

4.9% of GDP spent on schools (U.S. 6.9%)

Cram schools (U.S. has Stanley Kaplan!)

18.6% elementary students

52% 7th-12th graders