Dear SSJ Forum members,

The September 2011 issue of Social Science Japan is now available online. The PDF file of this as well as past issues can be downloaded at the following URL:
http://newslet.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/. The theme of SSJ 45 is "Parties in Disarray: The Fall of the LDP ". Please see the issue's Introduction and Contents below.

Introduction

Japan was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 this year, and the earthquake has sustained a massive number of casualties. In addition, the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has posed unprecedented risks to the country.
Under these challenging circumstances, Japan's politics seems dysfunctional, leaving the people's lives difficult, and it has hindered the recovery of Japan's economy which had already been faltering even before the disaster. Needless to say, one of the key actors which could revitalise Japan-and which the country desperately seeks-is a strong, stable and efficient government.

Two years after the regime change in 2009, this issue of Social Science Japan revisits the issue of the change of government. Six scholars who participated in the conference, "A Perfect Tectonic Shift?: Structural Developments, Koizumi Reforms, and the Collapse of LDP Rule" (August 19 and 20, 2010), sponsored by the Hobriba International Conference Fund and the Todai-Yale initiative, discuss the factors contributing to the change of power in 2009, and add updated information in relation to the recent catastrophe brought about by the earthquake and subsequent nuclear plant problems, as well as by political disarray.

First, Hiwatari Nobuhiro discusses the challenges facing Japanese parties in the post-LDP era. Jun Saito then presents a report on a current research project on the leadership and policy changes. Kyohei Yamada examines the relationships between urban-rural inequality and the distribution of partisan support. In the fourth essay, Kay Shimizu analyses the political consequences of structural change by focusing on economic and demographic transformations over the last two decades. Kenneth Mori McElwain discusses the causes and effects of "party discipline" in Japanese politics. Finally, Patricia L. Maclachlan addresses postal reform in Japan and discusses financial and social roles for the postal office in post-quake Japan.

In the "Research Report Section," Michio Nitta, a Professor at Kokushikan University and a former Professor of Industrial Relations at ISS, presents a retrospective essay on his twenty-three years' academic life at Shaken. In the "Questions and Answers with the Visiting Professors" section, we present individual accounts from four scholars who recently conducted research at Shaken.

Finally, in addition to presenting abstracts of the ISS Contemporary Japan Group (CJG) and recently published books written by members of our research staff at the ISS, we feature the Contemporary China Research Base in the section, "Focus on ISS."

Contents of SSJ 45

Parties in Disarray: The Fall of the LDP

"Parties Running Amok? Or, just another episode in the new era of responsible party government" Hiwatari Nobuhiro

"Policy Reform and Leadership Change in Japan" Jun Saito

"Urban-Rural Income Inequality and the LDP" Kyohei Yamada

"The Political Consequences of Structural Change" Kay Shimizu

"Why Are Japanese Parties Undisciplined?" Kenneth Mori McElwain

"Postal Reform in a Changing Japan" Patricia L.
Maclachlan

ISS Research Report
"My Research at the Institute of Social Science: A Retrospective" Nitta Michio

Questions and Answers with Visiting Professors Chongwoo Choe Changhee Lee Jianguo Sun Bill W.K. Taylor

Kuniko Ishiguro
Managing Editor
Social Science Japan