Amakudari
The Hidden Fabric of Japan's Economy
Published on 12. May 2003
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-0-8014-4083-0 (ISBN)
Description
The widespread migration of civil servants to high-profile positions in the private and public sectors is known in Japan as amakudari, or "descent from heaven." Recent media stories associate the practice with corruption as the former officials seek government favors for their new employers. In their timely book, Richard A. Colignon and Chikako Usui offer the first systematic exploration of this influential yet poorly understood Japanese institution.
Colignon and Usui analyze amakudari as a ministry-level phenomenon that is consciously constructed and reproduced with intricate networks in many political and corporate spheres. Drawing on five decades of qualitative and quantitative data delineating the post-retirement careers of leading bureaucrats, they examine changes in traditional job patterns. Although not as strong a force as in the 1960s and 1970s, amakudari, in their view, remains a critical feature of Japanese society and heavily shapes the relationship between government and business.
The authors warn that despite the Japanese media criticism of amakudari, it comprises a power structure resistant to radical change. Most important, their book demonstrates that a gradual weakening of this practice may not lead to a more democratic, meritocratic society.
Colignon and Usui analyze amakudari as a ministry-level phenomenon that is consciously constructed and reproduced with intricate networks in many political and corporate spheres. Drawing on five decades of qualitative and quantitative data delineating the post-retirement careers of leading bureaucrats, they examine changes in traditional job patterns. Although not as strong a force as in the 1960s and 1970s, amakudari, in their view, remains a critical feature of Japanese society and heavily shapes the relationship between government and business.
The authors warn that despite the Japanese media criticism of amakudari, it comprises a power structure resistant to radical change. Most important, their book demonstrates that a gradual weakening of this practice may not lead to a more democratic, meritocratic society.
Reviews / Votes
Amakudari, by putting together different data sources, presents a useful, bird's-eye view of the extensive practice and serves as a good introduction to the topic, especially for those to whom the sheer scope of amakudari in Japanese society would be news.- Koichi Nakano, Sophia University (Journal of Japanese Studies) Colignon documents the networks and informal relationships that make Japanese capitalism less than a pure market-driven system... and that there is no clear line between acceptable corporatism and corruption.
(Foreign Affairs) The current debate over the nature of 'welfare capitalisms' would be greatly enriched with more material on Asian nations such as that provided by Colignon and Usui. Japan scholars, however, will also find this book extremely useful, not because of new ideas about the Japanese political-economy, but because of a wealth of new data confirming much of what we had already suspected. In no industrial society today do we find a power elite as united and commanding as in present day Japan.
- Harold R. Kerbo, California Polytechnic State University (Comparative Sociology) This volume presents a study of a set of Japanese practices collectively known as amakudari, or 'descent from heaven,' where high-level bureaucrats move from government ministries to top positions in public and private corporations as well as national politics.... In the last ten years, amakudari has become the chief obstacle to reform in Japan, and its legitimacy has been undermined by glaring government corruption and the gross mismanagement of the economy. This extremely interesting work reveals important hidden networks of influence in the Japanese political economy and contributes to further revealing the cultural specificity of Japanese capitalism.
(Choice)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Ithaca
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paper over boards
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
907 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8014-4083-0 (9780801440830)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2018
1st Edition
Cornell University Press
€162.99
Available for download
Persons
Richard A. Colignon is Professor in the Department of Sociology and The Center for Social and Public Policy, Duquesne University. He is the author of Power Plays: Critical Events in the Institutionalization of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Chikako Usui is Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Graduate Program in Gerontology, and Center for International Studies, University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Content
Amakudari and the political economy of Japan; Amakudari as institution; Amakudari - movement to the private sector; Yokosuberi and public corporations; Wataridori and private and public corporations; Chii Riyo and the movement to political office; Amakudari as power structure.