In the fall of 2004, Dr. Alisa Gaunder, myself, and four other Southwestern students submitted a pro

1
Reluctant Reformer Prime Minister Koizumi in
Foreign Policy
Christopher Bailey, Member of the Southwestern
ASIANetwork Research Team

• Koizumis principal
  goal when he entered office was to gain a seat on
  the United Nations Security Council. This year
  the U.N. secretary general has reported there are
  two options viable, yet only one which Koizumi is
  hoping for. This option calls for the entry of
  six new spots being created on the council. This
  is Japans first viable opportunity to join the
  U.N. Security Council that now consists of the
  United States, Britain, France, Russia, and
  China. However there is staunch protest
  throughout Asia against Japans admittance. The
  U.N. Security Council was established at the end
  of World War II as a means of stopping such
  similar conflicts and two of the countries now
  petitioning for entry were the enemies at that
  time.
• Many countries including
  China, South and North Korea, as well as Taiwan
  are leading protests as well against the Japanese
  because of their controversial past. Japan has
  repeatedly released controversial textbooks that
  perceive Japans imperialist past as well as
  atrocities in World War II in a different light
  than the rest of the world. This has led to the
  backlash Japan has felt in the past few months
  with their hopes for gaining a seat on the United
  Nations Security Council. Koizumi has yet to
  design a large strategic plan to gain the seat,
  but has pointed to the role of Japans economy in
  the U.N. as Japans legitimacy for gaining a
  seat.
• While Japan does contribute
  a significant sum to the U.N., Koizumi has
  provided little else in terms of reasons for
  Japan being added to the council. In the past
  few months, Koizumi has gone even farther in
  deepening the improbability for their chances in
  settling the relationship with China by stating
  his intentions to visiting the controversial
  Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine serves as a war
  memorial for the fallen soldiers of Japan,
  including men convicted of war crimes from World
  War II. This has been the key to huge
  demonstrations in both China and North Korea.
  Koizumis repeated a statement about visiting the
  site has enraged many in the region and has
  served to further the separation between Japan
  and the rest of Asia.

Domestic Constraints and Obstacles
International Goals and Barriers

• Domestic strains have proven
  extremely difficult for many Japanese Prime
  Ministers, including Koizumi. One of the key
  institutional limitations on Koizumi is his
  limited power to set policy initiatives that do
  not align with his LDP party. He has continued
  to claim his separation from the LDP party in the
  media, but in actuality these inner party bureaus
  that establish the majority of policy limit him.
  One of the largest policy initiatives by the LDP
  is dealing with the steep recession that Japan
  has been locked in for nearly two decades now.
  Koizumi has used the recession to fuel his call
  for increased international competition to
  stimulate the economy as well as promote a more
  global Japan on world affairs but as is apparent
  the Japanese economy has remained stagnant.
  Koizumis constant reliance behind the scenes on
  LDP policy issues will cripple his opportunities
  to establish not only his own foreign policy but
  also policy in general.
• Koizumi has taken steps to
  separate himself from the party by establishing
  his own cabinet. This cabinet was different than
  those in the past because of Koizumis relative
  freedom due to his overwhelming popularity in
  local elections. This cabinet serves as his own
  personal bureaucracy that reports to him, which
  some claim eliminates his dependence on the
  government bureaucracy as well as LDP policy
  committees. While he may have extracted himself
  from the LDP somewhat in regards to policy
  control, he has not beaten the constraint of the
  bureaucracy. This claim for a security seat was
  initiated not by Koizumi, but by the bureaucracy.
  
• The bureaucracy decides policy
  initiatives and passes them on to the Prime
  Ministers cabinet, excluding the cabinet from
  some aspects of decision making. This severely
  limits the cabinet and Prime Minister from taking
  active roles in developing and fine tuning policy
  before it runs through several bureaucratic
  agencies. Koizumi does have the power to check
  the bureaucracy due to the Cabinet Law passed in
  2001. Koizumi has the largest amount of power
  since the beginning of the Post War period, yet
  he has not taken the reigns or effectively
  established his own leadership. The bureaucracy
  still largely handles all information that flows
  in and out of the Cabinet. Upon entering office
  Koizumi campaigned on reform and the ability to
  look past his own party and take the steps
  necessary to put Japan back on track.

My Reflections
Research Proposal and Trip Assessment

• A life changing
  experience Japan has always been a country that
  has fascinated me. My love and interest in Japan
  started at a young age through the martial arts.
  As I have gotten older my attraction has grown to
  include many other facets of Japanese society,
  especially the political culture. This trip
  allowed me to tie both of my passions together.
  My research focused on Prime Minister Koizumi and
  his effectiveness in regards to foreign policy.
• By interviewing both
  politicians from several parties and
  international relations professors, I gained an
  incredible insight into Japanese foreign policy.
  Another key piece of our research was discussions
  with a political science class from Sophia
  University who held class seminars to address
  each of our topics. When our research and
  interviews were finished, I spent my free time
  searching Japan for museums and martial arts
  demonstrations. One major impression left by this
  trip is that it will not be the last.

• In the fall of 2004, Dr.
  Alisa Gaunder, myself, and four other
  Southwestern students submitted a proposal to
  ASIANetwork to conduct research on political
  leadership in Tokyo, Japan. In February of 2005,
  we obtained notification that we had received the
  grant totaling 32,000 to conduct our research.
• Once arriving in Tokyo, we
  spent three weeks in Tokyo, Japan researching
  political leadership from various perspectives.
  The team set up a total of 15 interviews with
  academics and politicians. We met with the
  primary subject of two of my colleagues
  students' research projects-Doi Takako, the first
  female party head and speaker of the Lower House
  in the Japanese Diet and Hatoyama Yukio,
  co-founder of the Democratic Party of Japan and
  former party head. We interviewed five other
  sitting politicians including Moriyama Mayumi,
  former Justice Minister the Koizumi cabinet and
  Fukushima Mizuho, current head of the Social
  Democratic Party.