Alerted by Michael Cucek's Shisaku blog, I was fascinated to read how high the deposit requirements are for candidates running for political office in Japan, especially for the Diet:
:http://blog.japantimes.co.jp/yen-for-living/candidate-
deposit-requirement-guarantees-same-faces-on-the-ballot
/

I don't recall reading this before, though no doubt ten people will now write and point out that it's been in front on my nose in scholarly publications for years.
Anyway, this does seem a very significant deterrent to political participation (especially by those who are not personally wealthy or backed by wealth/business) and a threat to political competitiveness. I wonder if it also helps to explain why the DPJ failed to fight a significant number of Diet districts for some years.

Peter Cave
Lecturer in Japanese Studies
SALC, University of Manchester
Samuel Alexander Building
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 3195
www.manchester.ac.uk/research/peter.cave/=