Introduction

What the late Robert S. McNamara described at a meeting of the ‘Think Tanks to Japan’ project in 1991 reflects the challenges of ‘think tanks’ that Japan has faced for many years. He stated that:

What did he mean by that?

Existing studies indicate that many ‘think tanks’, generally defined as organisations that generate policy-oriented research, analysis and advice (McGann, 2012), do exist in Japan. According to the ‘2011 Global Go To Think Tank Rankings’, Japan was ranked ninth in the world in terms of think-tank numbers (103) (McGann, 2012). The National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA) in Japan has collected data on ‘think tanks’ (defined as ‘organisations engaged in policy research’) from 1982 through to the current year, and records 198 organisations in 1992, and 201 in 2012 (NIRA, 2011).

On the other hand, Japan has few think tanks if viewed in terms of strict definitions of ‘think tanks’ as characterised by specifically having: (1) ‘relative autonomy’; (2) key functions based on policy analysis and evaluation; and (3) catalytic roles between governments and civil society (see the following section for details). This fact has not been understood well by the public or even by policy communities within Japan. Where does the gap come from, how is the gap related to the preceding comments by McNamara and how are the resulting relevant challenges interlinked to policy analysis, relevant social, economic or policy systems, and public policy in Japan?

In seeking answers to these questions, this chapter is designed to address the challenges of present Japanese think tanks, with a focus on policy analysis, through the following three areas of analysis. First, an overview of think tanks in Japan is provided by articulating relevant gaps with key ingredients of strictly defined think tanks.