Chair: John C. Campbell, University of Michigan

"Politics by association" influences Japanese policy-making and power relations. At the same time, the state shapes the formation of voluntary associations, intervening in those groups that challenge government policies and prerogatives. This dynamic is characterized by contestation and cooperation, pitting aims for associational autonomy against government goals.

This panel draws on the strengths of disciplinary approaches ranging from anthropology and history to political science and law to speak to two questions: what laws and regulations shape the organization of associations? And how do associations in Japan organize to influence politics? Pekkanen will describe in detail the legal barriers to the formation of autonomous associations in Japan. Davis, Flaherty, and Nakamura each analyze the tactics employed by groups to navigate these barriers and change government policy in interest areas including: the fundamental rights of the accused in trials, social welfare for the hearing disabled, and self-regulation in the legal profession. Flaherty and Nakamura analyze the emergence of organizations of lawyers and organizations of the hearing impaired as a political force in the post-war. Davis explores how the adoptation of the Sayama Incident—a symbol of anti-Burakumin discrimination—by citizens defending fundamental human rights affected Burakumin movement politics. Under the umbrella of politics by association, issues ranging from ties to political parties/government ministries to the emergence of multiple rights discourses figure largely in these presentations.

At its most recent conjuncture, Japan’s history of associational activism produced the 1998 NPO Law. Critics claim that the Law nurtures pliant, non-profit organizations (NPOs) rather than potentially critical citizens associations (shimin dantai). Others see the Law as a positive turning point toward a new, Japanese civil society. This panel takes the past, present, and future of the tensions that characterize these positions as its subject.

Robert J. Pekkanen, Harvard University

Associations and organizations do not form in a vacuum. Instead, the legal, political, and economic environment powerfully influences which groups form, and what organized shape groups take. Government subsidies or tax benefits for a group can speed its growth as withholding legal status or legitimacy can harm a group’s prospects. Despite the 1998 NPO Law, Japan’s Civil Code continues to present a number of surprising barriers for powerful autonomous associations. This presentation presents an in-depth look at the legal structure governing formation, operation, and taxation of associations in Japan.

Specifically, I detail the legal categories into which civil society groups are classed, the process by which they must attempt to gain legal status in these categories, financial support from the state (directly via grants or indirectly via tax regulations), and other forms of state support and legitimation. The focus is on the "rules of the game" in which associations must form, grow, and operate. Of course no rules are neutral; Japan’s are put into international context by a brief comparison with how France, Germany, and the U.S. regulate their civil societies. Attention is also paid to changes from the new NPO Law. This sought to remove bureaucratic discretion from the process of granting groups legal status, long a barrier to autonomous group formation. On the other hand, it makes no provisions for tax benefits for the civil society groups under its aegis. This presentation aims to provide a clear understanding of the regulatory framework of civil society organizations in Japan.

Darryl Flaherty, Columbia University

In 1933, the Imperial Lawyers Association condemned the government’s "abuse of authority (kenryoku no ran’yō)" and infringements on human rights, using the same language employed by champions of democracy and critics of government "fasci-zation," such as Yoshino Sakuzo. At the same time, the association backed the suppression of civil liberties under a revised Public Peace Preservation Law. Twenty years later, organized lawyers continued to champion rights, while simultaneously establishing an involuntary association that critics contended infringed on freedom of association.

Like associations ranging from newspaper associations to the practicing physicians groups, organized lawyers showed seemingly little ideological consistency in their actions from 1932 to 1949. First the Association criticized government abuses while backing suppression, then it took up the banner of democratization while curtailing rights for the sake of professional interests. Why the dramatic shifts? "Japan lost the war," is the simple answer, but also an unsatisfactory one. The national association of lawyers had long proposed many of the reforms carried out during the occupation of Japan, in some cases since the nineteenth century.

Political activism by the national associations of lawyers at mid-century highlights a logic that operated independent of the interests of the nation while it was, at the same time, embedded in the power relations that governed politics. This logic, institutionalized in the representation of interests, supported "fascization" before 1945 and "democratization" after. Rather than representing a contradiction, it points to the multiple faces of organized interests, faces that must be understood as formative in Japan’s democratic practices.

Karen Nakamura, Yale University

The Japanese Federation of the Deaf (JFD) is the oldest and largest organization representing hearing impaired persons in Japan. Incorporated as a welfare-related NPO just after the end of the Second World War, the JFD celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1998. The JFD traces its roots to the late-Meiji/early-Taisho period. It was not until the 1960s, however, that the JFD became politically active, ushering in a new era of disability activism in Japan.

This paper traces the different stages of the deaf social movement through three eras: the period before WWII; the post-war deaf civil rights movement; and the JFD’s current emphasis on welfare rights. Each of these phases will be situated in historical context, and in comparison to other minority discourses in Japan such as the Burakumin and Korean movements, organization of soldiers wounded in war-time, and contemporary multiculturalism.

The paper then analyzes in detail the recent shift toward what the JFD leadership calls "participatory welfare (sanka fukushi)." The two-tiered structure of the JFD allows local prefectural organizations to take on government contract work (itaku jigyō), while the central JFD focuses on political action. This makes two channels of symbiotic cooptation/cooperation possible, while leaving the option of social protest available.

John H. Davis, Jr., Stanford University

Twice a year, thousands of Japanese citizens gather in Tokyo to protest the Sayama Jiken, the conviction of Mr. Kazuo Ishikawa for the murder of a 16-year-old girl. Despite evidence suggesting Mr. Ishikawa’s innocence, the court sentenced him to death on March 11, 1964 and later reduced the sentence to life imprisonment. Mr. Ishikawa, a resident of a Burakumin community, was released on parole in December 1994. In the 35 years since his arrest, Mr. Ishikawa came to symbolize discrimination against Burakumin. The biannual demonstrations occupy a central place in the Buraku Liberation League’s activism; however, they also mark a move toward the inclusion of citizens groups (shimin no kai) in the demonstrations. These groups are particularly concerned with the flaws in the legal system that the Sayama Incident made apparent, flaws that make every Japanese a potential victim of the same fate suffered by Mr. Ishikawa.