Japan's Immobilism

This essay analyzes Japan’s post-Cold War immobilism and the failures of its once highly praised political-economic system. In a succession of crises, including its recession and banking crisis, Japan has exhibited an indecisiveness that has paralyzed its policymaking. There are several fundamental causes of the indecisiveness, including the entrenched interests and institutional practices that remain from the century-long efforts to “catch up” with the West; and the exclusive concentration on economic growth since World War II that left many political-strategic institutions underdeveloped. Immobilism also results from the difficulty of consensual decision-making in Japan in times of great uncertainty. The author concludes that the U.S. must continue to prod Japan to make decisions that its system resists.