Mythology surrounding Japanese bureaucracy exposed


	March 7, 2002	atimes.com

Japan

Mythology surrounding Japanese bureaucracy exposed
By Purnendra Jain

ADELAIDE - Exposes of corruption are tarnishing the hallowed corridors of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gaimusho) as never before. Finally, heads are beginning to roll. Some serving ambassadors and high-ranking diplomats face dismissal; others are likely to be transferred to less prestigious positions; some others might quietly resign from their positions. If the public outcry grows and the opposition pursues this disquiet, even more heads could yet roll. The unfolding crisis in the Foreign Ministry may even lead to the fall of the Koizumi administration and ultimately political paralysis in Japan.

Revelations of unholy alliances among politicians, diplomats and business groups have been unfolding in front of the public eye since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi last month sacked foreign minister Makiko Tanaka and Muneo Suzuki, an influential parliamentarian from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), after an internal but very public feud between them. A former vice foreign minister, Suzuki pressured Gaimusho to bar two non-governmental organization groups (NGOs) from attending an international conference in Tokyo in January on the reconstruction of Afghanistan, unbeknownst to then foreign minister Tanaka.

Corruption and unethical practices are never-ending phenomena in Japan, as they are deeply embedded in the political system. The Ministry of Construction has long been seen as a hotbed of unethical practices and in recent years the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Finance have been tarnished by public exposure of embezzlement, fiscal misconduct and bureaucratic bungling. Revelations about misconduct and scandals have even reached police officials and public prosecutors. When a high-ranking diplomat was arrested in January 2001 on charges of embezzling millions of dollars, the Foreign Ministry dismissed the case as a single bad apple in the Gaimusho barrel. However, as recent cases reveal, there appear to be many rotten apples within Gaimusho.

The spate of public exposures since the mid-1990s appears to have blown the lid off the generally accepted mythology surrounding the Japanese bureaucracy. If there was one high-profile public institution in Japan that commanded respect from all quarters, domestically as well as externally, it was Japan's higher civil service. Based on meritocracy and with about a century of unblemished history behind it, this elite organization has long been revered, powerful and influential. Even US General Douglas MacArthur, who introduced sweeping reform to reshape almost all major institutions including the constitution in the wake of Japan's 1945 defeat, chose not to touch this institution. MacArthur recognized that without the cooperation of bureaucrats, he could not accomplish his mission in occupied Japan between 1945 and 1952.

Japan's bureaucracy lived up to its reputation for most of the postwar period. But just as reputations take a long time to build, so too can they be shattered quickly. Revelations of malfeasance over recent years have severely sullied the image of the once highly respected, "incorruptible" bureaucratic elite. They cast light on the downside of Japan's famous "iron triangle" of thick relations between politicians, bureaucrats and business. This structure was touted as the core of Japan's economic miracle in the 1960s and 1970s. But the 1990s and beyond reveal the costs of this arrangement: corrupt practices and a structure that makes corruption appear to be endemic.

Cozy and often collusive relationships between politicians, high-ranking bureaucrats and business groups have severely damaged the status of Japan's higher civil service. In this arrangement all three parties are in a win-win situation in terms of personal gain. Patron politicians protect ministry interests in budgetary matters. Bureaucrats are also rewarded through better career positions, especially as they "descend from heaven" (amakudari) to highly paid employment in private or semi-government organizations after their retirement. Politicians receive money from business to fuel their political machines in return for favors they bestow through bureaucrats. Business and industry thrive on government projects and public policies that favor them. Taxpayers foot the bill for this arrangement.

Corruption in the bureaucracy is not new. Yet it was generally - if naively - assumed that Gaimusho was beyond its venal reach. That is why the public was so shocked to learn that the Foreign Ministry is surely a part of the unholy alliance and some within this ministry are involved deeply in corrupt practices. A testimony session conducted some two weeks ago in the Diet (parliament) has revealed widespread corruption, unethical practices, lack of transparency and above all political influence and pressure on Gaimusho.

This episode began to unfold in January when Gaimusho barred the two NGOs from the international conference on reconstruction of Afghanistan. One of their leaders had commented critically on the Japanese government in a daily newspaper. These NGOs were barred without the knowledge of Tanaka, who later revealed that Muneo Suzuki, then chair of a Lower House committee, had pressured ministry staff into this decision. As a result of his former high-profile positions in the ruling party and in government, including his short stint as vice foreign minister, Suzuki is reported to have strong influence on Gaimusho, which often undermined Tanaka's position as ministerial head. In the wash-up, Prime Minister Koizumi sacked both his foreign minister and administrative foreign vice minister, who is the most senior career diplomat. Suzuki also resigned his committee position.

Not satisfied with Koizumi's action, opposition parties demanded that both Tanaka and Suzuki be asked to testify in the Diet (Suzuki will do so on Monday). While the testimony was organized to establish whether Suzuki pressured the Foreign Ministry to bar the two NGOs, the enquiry broadened to other cases of pressure and influence that Suzuki was alleged to have exerted upon the ministry. One opposition member produced a confidential Foreign Ministry paper that established clearly Suzuki's heavy influence on such an important strategic matter as the selection process for corporations awarded contracts to carry out humanitarian aid projects on the four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido.

During interrogation in the Diet, it was revealed that Suzuki unduly pressured the ministry to restrict the number of bidders for a project to build a public facility on Kunashiri Island, deliberately to favor companies from his own electoral district in Hokkaido. The facility, funded through Japan's official development assistance (ODA), was known formally as the "Friendship House", but locals called it "Muneo House". Other allegations included his influence on ODA projects in Africa and on the ministry's personnel management.

Koizumi quickly realized the seriousness of the issue and asked the new foreign minister to set up an internal inquiry to report within 10 days. The in-house inquiry team, led by a former Supreme Court justice, reported on Sunday that Suzuki was "deeply involved" in the bidding process for the two Japanese government-funded projects on the Russian-held island claimed by Japan. The report also names a number of senior diplomats with close connections to Suzuki who willingly obliged Suzuki's requests.

It is not yet clear what action, if any, new Foreign Minister Kawaguchi might take. Unlike her dramatic predecessor Tanaka, Kawaguchi is not rocking the ministerial boat and was chosen precisely for this reason. The prime minister has maintained silence on this issue, clearly fearing a potentially lethal flood of political fallout should this Pandora's box be opened too much further.

The myth of the moral integrity of Japan's higher civil servants is once again shot to pieces. This time it is Japan's diplomats who are under fire. The Foreign Ministry's apologia last year about a single bad apple in Gaimusho is now patently untrue. Events of the past month have exposed the venal structure that undergirds even this segment of the bureaucracy through its relations with politicians and business. Indeed, there are likely to be many diplomats and other Gaimusho bureaucrats who have succumbed to the pressures for misdemeanor that business and politics impose. Surely, there are many other Suzukis within Japan's political system, and many corporations receiving political and bureaucratic favor.

Punishing Suzuki and some officials involved in the recently exposed scandals will be only a small step in the right direction. Public confidence in Japan's Foreign Ministry and its officials can return only after a thorough housecleaning of the ministry, carried out in fair and transparent manner.

This is reasonable, but very hard to ask of Koizumi. It is surely required of his reform aspirations, however difficult the entrenched political interests make this task. Yet if his actions in the past 11 months since taking office are any indication, we ought not hold our breaths. Talk of reform now seems an empty political slogan. Koizumi has lost not only his generous public support, but also the political will that this drove. His inertia indicates yet again the rigidity of Japan's political system, and the tenacity of the pockets of vested interest that continue to keep the system in place. Again, too, we see the demise of reform and all its hopes, after a very brief honeymoon. It appears that the more things change, the more they stay the same in Japanese political life.

Purnendra Jain is a professor in the Center for Asian Studies at Australia's Adelaide University.

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