Japan's money politics

Abstract

The standards of what is considered moral or immoral behaviour in politics are heavily influenced by the cultural context and social traditions. Not only does each democracy have its own idea of right and proper conduct for politicians, it also has a view of how relations between elected representatives and officials should be managed. These points are clearly illustrated by looking at recent moves towards reform in the political life of Japan. Despite ‘Westernization’ over many decades, Japanese traditions of gift giving are embedded in political life and political and industrial groupings have highly developed mechanisms of influencing the administration.