Japanese Research

Why Kohei Saito Misunderstands Marx's Ecological Theory: A Critique of “Reconstructing Marx's Critique of Ecological Capitalism”

LI Bing,HUANG Xiaodan

2026, 40(4): 1-11. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2026.04.001

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Japanese scholar Kohei Saito attempted to “reconstruct Marx's critique of ecological capitalism” from the perspective of textual research and proposed the practical approach of “de-growth communism”.However, upon examining his argumentation process, it becomes clear that Kohei Saito has misunderstood Marx's ecological theory: first,in his analysis of the theory of material metabolism, he emphasizes “matter” while neglecting “people”; second, he confuses the concepts of “labor process” and “material metabolism between humans and nature”; third, he reverses the root and consequence of contradictions in capitalist production; and fourth, he fabricates a dichotomy between “two Marxs”, thereby fragmenting Marx's thought. The methodological flaws of Kohei Saito's approach lie in two aspects: firstly, his dialectics lost the critical and revolutionary characteristics of Marx's dialectics; secondly, his research process did not reflect the essence of Marx's method of “rising from the abstract to the concrete”. Kohei Saito's viewpoints and propositions have a strong idealistic color and lack the examination of “real people and their historical development”, thus making it difficult to accurately grasp Marx's ecological theory.

The Evolution and Restructuring of the Division of Labor in the China-Japan Semiconductor Industry Chain in East Asia

JIN Renshu,BAO Furong

2026, 40(4): 12-27. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2026.04.002

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The global semiconductor industry is in a period of industrial chain reconstruction driven by both geopolitical games and technological changes, and the traditional “geese formation model” that East Asia has long followed is gradually disintegrating. As the dual core forces of the East Asian semiconductor industry chain, China and Japan have undergone a fundamental shift in their division of labor from Japan's “leading goose” to China and Japa's “dual headed goose”. The article analyzes the evolution process and internal logic of the division of labor mode in the semiconductor industry chain in East Asia by calculating RCA index, TC index, TCI index, and DEV index, revealing the formation characteristics and core driving forces of the “dual headed goose” pattern. In the process of reconstructing the “dual headed goose” pattern, the RCEP institutional dividend and global green transformation provide important opportunities, but at the same time, it also faces multiple challenges such as the US technology blockade against China, homogenized competition between China and Japan, and insufficient political mutual trust. Faced with the key nodes of accelerating the restructuring of the global semiconductor industry chain, China should accelerate the tackling of core technological bottlenecks, fully unleash the benefits of the RCEP regional system, deepen cooperation with Japan in emerging semiconductor fields, promote mutual benefit and win-win cooperation between China and Japan in the “dual headed goose” semiconductor industry chain pattern, and maintain the security and stability of the East Asian semiconductor industry chain supply chain.

From Self-Regulation to Value Co-Creation:Three Decades of Evolution and Institutional Logic in Keidanren's Charter of Corporate Behavior

CAO Xi

2026, 40(4): 28-43. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2026.04.003

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Since its inception in 1991, Keidanren's Charter of Corporate Behavior has undergone six revisions.Its paradigm has shifted from “crisis-responsive self-discipline” to “strategic CSR”, and further to “sustainable capitalism”, with its core principles elevating from “legal compliance” to “value co-creation”. This evolution is not a smooth, linear progression but is driven dually by international norms and domestic crises. Acting as an “institutional entrepreneur”, Keidanren selectively absorbs global agendas, such as CSR and the SDGs through two mechanisms of institutional change—“layering” and “conversion”—and anchors them within the indigenous tradition of “corporate citizenship” and the legacy of relational governance, ultimately forming a “hybrid responsibility paradigm” that combines international discourse with distinctly Japanese characteristics. However, this paradigm exhibits significant limitations: principle ambiguity, fragility of enforcement mechanisms, structural bias in elite consensus, and deep-seated tensions between global discourse and domestic path dependency. Analyzing this evolutionary process not only reveals the agency and boundaries of non-state actors in reconciling global standards with local practices, but also provides a theoretical reference for understanding the restructuring of business-society relations in East Asia and the institutional conditions for industry self-regulation.

The Earmarking of Japan's Consumption Tax for Social Security Financing under Low Fertility and Population Aging

MAO Senpei

2026, 40(4): 44-58. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2026.04.004

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Low fertility and population aging continue to reshape the financing base of Japan's social security system. The decline in the working-age population has constrained the capacity to pay social insurance contributions, while the increase in the elderly and oldest-old populations has driven up demand for pension, medical care, long-term care, and related benefits. As a result, the traditional financing structure relying on social insurance contributions and public funding faces long-term constraints. Based on official Japanese data on the population, social security benefits, financing structure, and the use of consumption tax revenue, this paper analyzes the institutional logic and practical boundaries of Japan's restructuring of social security financing from the perspective of the earmarking of the consumption tax for social security purposes. The findings show that the earmarking of the consumption tax for social security financing is not merely a tax-rate adjustment, but a mechanism for strengthening stable revenue sources under the combined effects of demographic change, a shrinking contribution base, and rigid growth in benefit expenditures. Through the three mechanisms of revenue stability, broader burden sharing, and earmarked use, the consumption tax has improved the sustainability and budgetary visibility of social security financing. However, although consumption tax revenue has strengthened the coverage of the four major social security expenditures—pensions, medical care, long-term care, and measures to address low fertility—it remains insufficient to independently eliminate the financing gap in social security. Japan's practice suggests that tax reform in an aging society should not remain within a single logic of tax increases, but should move toward coordinated governance involving the consumption tax, social insurance contributions, public funding, individual cost sharing, and expenditure rationalization. The implication is that social security financing reform should be grounded in demographic change and long-term expenditure responsibilities, and should establish an institutional balance among stable revenue sources, intergenerational equity, and fiscal sustainability.

The Operational Mechanism, Implementation Effectiveness, and Institutional Tensions of Japan's Free Preschool Education Policy

LI Dan,CAI Yingqi

2026, 40(4): 59-69. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2026.04.005

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In the context of intensifying declining birthrates and growing demannds for educational equity, free preschool education has become an important policy option for countries to reshape public responsibility for early childhood education.Using the three-dimensional framework of new institutionalism—regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive—to analyze Japan's free preschool education policy, the findings indicate that the policy is not merely a tool for fiscal expansion; rather, it operates through the synergistic interaction of institutional mechanisms, including legal authorization, central-local division of responsibilities, interdepartmental coordination, and fiscal burden-sharing. Over the course of policy evolution, a stable institutionalized logic has gradually taken shape. The implementation has effectively alleviated the economic burden of family childcare, improved the accessibility of preschool education, and exerted some positive effects on educational quality and family fertility expectations. However, the policy process also reveals multiple structural tensions, such as fiscal pressures and central-local responsibility gaming, demand expansion versus uneven regional resource allocation, quality differentiation among institutions, and the inflation of family educational expectations, which may result in deviations from the original policy objectives.

Evolution, Structure and Functional Transformation of Alumni Organizations in Japanese Universities

JIN Man,QU Delin

2026, 40(4): 70-80. DOI: 10.14156/j.cnki.rbwtyj.2026.04.006

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The evolution of alumni organizations in Japanese universities is closely associated with the changes of the higher education system and university operating environment. Drawing on Japanese government documents, academic studies, official websites of representative universities, and publicly available materials from alumni organizations, the transformation of alumni organizations is examined, from early alumni networks in the prewar higher education system, to multi-layered structures under the postwar new university system, and further to contemporary platforms supporting university development. The study shows that alumni organizations in Japanese universities do not constitute a single organizational type, but comprise university-wide bodies, faculty- and graduate school-based associations, regional networks, occupation- and theme-oriented groups, and organizations with diverse legal forms. Since the early twenty-first century, national university incorporation, declining birth rates, and increasing managerial pressures have driven a shift from traditional networking and fellowship functions toward broader roles in alumni engagement, student support, fundraising collaboration, and social linkage. At the same time, challenges such as declining intergenerational participation, leadership succession constraints, strengthened personal data protection, and ambiguous boundaries between universities and alumni organizations have become increasingly prominent. The Japanese case suggests that the functional expansion of alumni work should be grounded in clearly defined responsibilities and corresponding organizational capacity, so as to maintain a stable relationship among university stewardship, alumni autonomy, and support for collaboration.

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