Understanding governance in contemporary Japan explores the transformation of the Japanese state in response to the challenges of governance by focusing on case studies of two key regulatory sectors: information and communications technology regulation and anti-monopoly regulation after the 1980s. The disjuncture and significant transformation that occurred during this period, explored through rich and detailed interviews with politicians and civil servants, makes this a timely account of approaches to regulatory governance and competition in Japan.
In its examination of these two case studies, this book challenges the established body of pluralist and rational choice literature in Japanese politics by revealing the state to be set up as the key locus of power. The transformation of the Japanese state in these two examples can be character
