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RELATED TOPIC:
THE EMPEROR

RELATED TOPIC:
THE PRIME MINISTER

RELATED TOPIC:
THE JAPANESE DIET (PARLIAMENT)

RELATED TOPIC:
INTEREST GROUPS IN JAPANESE POLITICS

RELATED TOPIC:
ELECTION LAWS

RELATED TOPIC:
THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM

 
THE GOVERNMENT OF MODERN JAPAN:
THE JAPANESE BUREAUCRACY

Civil Servants and Senior Bureaucrats

Gerald L. Curtis :: When we talk about bureaucrats in Japan, we’re talking about two very different groups of people. There are the large numbers of civil servants who do all the normal, mundane, and routine business involved in running a government.

But then there is a small group of elite bureaucrats who hold the most important positions in the major ministries such as Finance, or International Trade and Industry, Health and Welfare, Education, and so on, who are few in number and have a great deal of prestige and a great deal of power.

And so when we talk about the Japanese bureaucracy, we’re usually referring to this small elite within the Japanese governmental administrative structure.