Japanese Research

The Current Situation and Trend of Conservative Politics in Japan

LIAN Degui

2024, 38(2): 1-9. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2024.02.001

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Japanese politics mainly were governed by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party for a long time after 1955. The partys factions were divided into conservative rightists and conservative liberals, with the two factions alternating in controlling the Liberal Democratic Partys leadership, which also represents the current state of conservative politics in Japan. Initially, the conservative liberal Kochikai and Keiseikai held a dominant position for a long time. After entering the 21st century, with the rise of Seiwakai, conservative rightwing replaced conservative liberals to gain dominance. Seiwakai showed a clear right-wing inclination because this faction received support from the rightwing in Japan. The rise and fall of Seiwakai are closely related to the rise and fall of right-wing influence. Seiwakai achieved the longest serving cabinet in history during the reign of Shinzo Abe, causing political right-wing tendencies in Japan. Fumio Kishida, a conservative liberal in the Liberal Democratic Partys Kochikai, formed a cabinet to govern in 2021, which marks the regaining of the dominance of conservative politics in Japan by conservative liberals, and Japanese politics enters the post Abe Era. In the post Abe era, the Kishida Cabinets support rate continues to decline due to the influence of the black gold politics and church interference issues that originated from Seiwakai. Conservative liberals are implicated, and the Liberal Democratic Partys authoritarian politics are criticized. Japanese politics also falls into a predicament.

A Study on the Development and Evolution of Japans Science and Technology Diplomacy Towards India

LIAO Huan

2024, 38(2): 10-24. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2024.02.002

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Diplomatic relations between Japan and India have warmed sharply in recent years, and this heat has also been felt in the field of technology. As early as the 1980s, Japan and India laid the foundation of science and technology diplomacy through the signing of The Japan-India Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement. Since then, with the upgrading of diplomatic relations, the depth and breadth of science and technology cooperation have been gradually expanded. The current hot science and technology fields, such as information and communication technology, digital technology, and science and technology entrepreneurship, have been the focus of cooperation between the two countries. From the perspective of national interests of the two countries, Japan and India have strong complementarity in resources and population structure, capital technology and market, industry and software and hardware, etc., which promotes the sound development of science and technology diplomacy between the two countries. From the perspective of the international environment, the United States is attracting allies to form a science and technology alliance to block China, and the third country inevitably faces the dilemma of choosing sides. Japan and India, one staunch ally of the United States and the other hoping to gain benefits by joining the camp of liberal democratic values, so they are more or less involved in the United States blockade strategy. Under the influence of these factors, it is foreseeable that the scientific and technological diplomatic relations between Japan and India will continue to develop and occupy an increasingly important proportion in the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Recognition of “Positive Pacifism”: From Foreign Policy to National Strategy

YANG Jiateng

2024, 38(2): 25-34. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2024.02.003

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In September 2013, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe first proposed “positive pacifism based on international coordination doctrine” and included it in the 2013 National Security Strategy Document. In December 2022, Japan released a new version of National Security Strategy, and “positive pacifism” is still placed in an important position. Most of the existing academic research results believe that “positive pacifism” is the foreign policy of the second Abe administration, and they do not elevate it to the level of national strategy. On the basis of combing the context and definition of Japans “positive pacifism”, this paper discusses why “positive pacifism” has changed from foreign policy to national strategy from three aspects: national interests, strategic goals and policy paths. The paper analyzes the logic of Japans national strategy of “positive pacifism” by using three factors in the framework of neoclassical realism: system stimulus, leader image and strategic culture.

From “Educating People with Food” to“Building a Nation on Food”: An Interpretation of The Basic Plan for Promotion of Shokuiku of Japan

TAN Jianchuan

2024, 38(2): 35-43. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2024.02.004

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Japan is one of the most developed countries in food and nutrition education in the world. Since the promulgation of The Basic Act on Shokuiku in 2005, The Basic Plan for Promotion of Shokuiku is devised and implemented every five years in Japan, which continuously stimulates the all-round development of food the and nutrition system. It has become an important national policy that deeply affects the lifestyle, moral values and behavior of the Japanese population as well as local economic development. The Basic Plan for Promotion of Shokuiku has been formulated and implemented for four phases, and the overall objectives and key work of each plan are different. In general, the first two phases put more emphasis on deepening the national attention to food and nutrition education, popularizing the basic dietary knowledge, and laying a foundation for “educating people with food”. The third phase paid more attention to the important role of food and nutrition education in promoting economic development and cultural inheritance, hoping to realize “building a nation on food”. On this basis, the fourth phase proposes to build a sustainable development of digital food and nutrition education. The Basic Plan for Promotion of Shokuiku has the characteristics of emphasizing legal protection, implementing management by objectives, emphasizing curriculum system construction, and mobilizing various social resources, which has important reference value for the development of food and nutrition education in China. However, it is also faced with practical challenges such as complex influencing factors and the failure to meet some target values on time, which reflects the long-term and complexity of the construction of food and nutrition education system.

Social Participation of Japanese Women in the Context of An Aging Population with Fewer Children: Policy Promotion, Effectiveness Evaluation, and Motivation Analysis

MA Lihua

2024, 38(2): 44-54. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2024.02.005

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Since the 1990s, in the context of an aging population with fewer children, Japan has broken the monopoly of “good wives and virtuous motherhood” for a long time by promulgating Basic Law on the Joint Participation of Women and Men in Society and other relevant policies and laws for women. It has increased the efforts of Japanese womens social participation policy reform, and effectively promoted the realization of the goal of “men and women jointly participate in society”. Among them, the manifestation of womens human rights in the policy field, the adjustment of policy goals in the economic field, the promotion of joint participation of men and women in the cultural field, and the establishment of womens institutions in the social education field are the main driving forces for the continuous adjustment and improvement of Japanese womens social participation policies. The implementation effectiveness and motivation of Japanese womens social participation policies reflect the concept of “joint participation of men and women”, the embedded “gender identity” in education, the “gender mainstream” reflected in policies, and womens theoretical research, which have played an important role in promoting womens social participation in Japan. These experiences have certain reference value for the future development orientation of Chinese womens social participation policies.

Research on the Situations of Japans Public Transport Industry and Countermeasures under the Impact of the COVID-19

XIANG Sitong, WEI Ran

2024, 38(2): 55-66. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2024.02.006

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Under the impact of the COVID-19, Japans public transport industry operators and the Japanese government have taken a series of measures to deal with the problem of the sudden decline of public transport volume. The most important among them is the cross industry cooperation and development of new services among public transportation operators. The government has implemented multiple measures through distributing subsidies, and formulating laws and policies to support the sustainable development of public transportation. These measures helped Japans public transport industry overcome a difficult epidemic period, and laid a good foundation for profit diversification after the end of the COVID-19 epidemic. During this process, the long-term data statistics and investigation work carried out by relevant Japanese departments, as well as the quick implementation of multiple countermeasures by public transportation operators and government departments, have provided good reference for China.

Analysis of the Governments Role in the Historical Evolution of the Modernization of the Silk Industry in Japan

DU Xiaojun, LI Runze

2024, 38(2): 67-80. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2024.02.007

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In the 17th and 18th centuries, Japan imported a large number of raw silk, resulting in a large number of silver capital outflow. Therefore, the Tokugawa shogunate introduced protection and encouragement policies. This can be said to be the rehearsal of the role of government protection and support in the later modernization process of the silk industry. At the end of the shogunate,the business opportunities in the world raw silk market caused the export of Japanese silk products to surge, but also caused the coarse production, low quality, and a significant reduction in international reputation. In order to solve the above problems and promote the Japanese silk industry to enter the threshold of modernization, in the early Meiji period, the Japanese government opened government-run demonstration factories, conducted experiments on silkworm breed improvement, introduced and promoted new technologies, and advocated associations, playing the role of “midwife” to demonstrate and induce the modernization of the silk industry. After the private ownership in 1880, the Meiji government played the role of a “nanny” in supervising and supporting the silk industry revolution, contributing to the establishment of the comparative advantage of the Japanese silk market in the world.

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