Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T11:06:01.245Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Japanese Agricultural Reform under Abenomics

from Part IV - Third Arrow of Abenomics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2021

By
Patricia L. Maclachlan  and
Kay Shimizu
Edited by
Takeo Hoshi  and
Phillip Y. Lipscy
Takeo Hoshi
Affiliation:
University of Tokyo
Phillip Y. Lipscy
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Get access

Summary

After 2012, Prime Minister Abe prioritized agricultural reform as a signature objective of the structural reform, or “third arrow,” component of Abenomics. But while the Abe reforms have enhanced competitive market signals in the farm sector and accelerated the long-term political decline of conservative LDP politicians, farm bureaucrats, and Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) – the “farm lobby” – in the policy process, the lobby remains a significant obstacle to more sweeping change. To illustrate these points and the ongoing tug-of-war between neoliberal reformers and the farm lobby, this chapter explores some of the successes and failures of the government’s agricultural agenda against the backdrop of a deepening demographic and economic crisis in the countryside.

Keywords

Shinzo AbeAbenomicsagricultural policyfarm zokuJapan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA)Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)Ministry of AgricultureForestryand Fisheries (MAFF)
Type
Chapter
Information
The Political Economy of the Abe Government and Abenomics Reforms , pp. 421 - 444
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Ikuo Kabashima, governor of Kumamoto Prefecture, Kumamoto City, June 4, 2014.

Masayoshi Honma, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, May 29, 2014.

JA representatives, Kumamoto City, June–July 2014.

Taro Kohno, LDP lower house member from Kanagawa Prefecture, Tokyo, August 2014.

Sakae Hirose, mayor of Yabu City, Tokyo, June 5, 2014.

Takeshi Noda, lower house member from Kumamoto City, Tokyo, June 6, 2014.

Officials, Kumamoto Prefecture Bureau of Agriculture, Kumamoto City, June 5, 2014.

Kazuhito Yamashita, Canon Institute for Global Studies, Tokyo, January 5, 2015.

Kazuhito Yamashita. October 7, 2017.

Davis, Christina L. 2003. Food Fights Over Free Trade: How International Institutions Promote Agricultural Trade Liberalization. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Inada, Tomomi. 2016. “Abe seiken no nōsei kaikaku” (The Abe administration’s agricultural policy reforms). Nihon nōgyō no ugoki 191: 72–88.Google Scholar
Ishii, Hayato. 2015. “Nōsei undō no kakutai wa dono yō ni henkashitekita no ka” (How has the object of agricultural lobbying changed?). Nihon nōgyō no ugoki 189: 6–13.Google Scholar
Kantei. 2014. Nōrinsuisangyō·chiiki no katsuryoku sōzō puran (Plan for the Creation of Agricultural and Regional Vitality). www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/nousui/, accessed December 18, 2017.Google Scholar
Kantei. 2015. “Abenomics is Progressing! Towards the Reinvigoration of the Japanese Economy.” March. www.kantei.go.jp/singi/keizaisaisei/pdf/kaikakudankouEN.pdf, accessed April 7, 2015.Google Scholar
Kobari, Miwa. 2015. “[Yotsu no kaikaku] ni okeru kome seisaku no minaoshi” (Revising rice policy with regards to the ‘four reforms’). In Abenomics nōsei no ikikata: nōsei no kihon hōshin to minaoshi no ronten (The direction of Abenomics agricultural policy: basic policies and issues for reconsideration in agricultural policy), edited by Nobukazu, Taniguchi and Keiichi, Ishii, pp.91–107. Tokyo: Nōrintōkeikyōkai.Google Scholar
Koellner, Patrick. 2002. “Upper House Election in Japan and the Power of the Organized Vote.” Japanese Journal of Political Science 3(1): 113–137.Google Scholar
Krauss, Ellis S., and Pekkanen, Robert J.. 2011. The Rise and Fall of Japan’s LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Maclachlan, Patricia L. 2014. “The Electoral Power of Japanese Interest Groups: An Organizational Perspective.” Journal of East Asian Studies 14(3): 429–458.Google Scholar
Maclachlan, Patricia L., and Shimizu, Kay. 2015. “The Kantei vs. the LDP: Agricultural Reform, the Organized Vote, and the 2014 Election.” In Japan Decides 2014: The Japanese General Election, edited by Pekkanen, Robert, Reed, Steven, and Scheiner, Ethan, pp.170–182. London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Maclachlan, Patricia L., and Shimizu, Kay. 2016. “Japanese Farmers in Flux: The Domestic Sources of Agricultural Reform.” Asian Survey, 56(3): 442–65.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). 2010. Report on Results of 2010 World Census of Agriculture and Forestry in Japan. Tokyo: MAFF.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). 2016a. Report on Results of 2015 World Census of Agriculture and Forestry in Japan. Tokyo: MAFF.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). 2016b. FY2015 Annual Report on Food, Agricultural and Rural Areas in Japan: Summary. Tokyo: MAFF.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). 2017. FY2016 Annual Report on Food, Agricultural and Rural Areas in Japan: Summary. Tokyo: MAFF.Google Scholar
Mulgan, Aurelia George. 2000. The Politics of Agriculture in Japan. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mulgan, Aurelia George. 2005. “Where Tradition Meets Change: Japan’s Agricultural Politics in Transition.” Journal of Japanese Studies 31(2): 261–298.Google Scholar
Mulgan, Aurelia George. 2016. “Loosening the Ties that Bind: Japan’s Agricultural Policy Triangle and Reform of Cooperatives (JA).” Journal of Japanese Studies 42(2): 221–246.Google Scholar
Murata, Yasuo. 2016. “[Kantei nōsei] de, shinjiyūshugi nōsei wo tenkai” [The evolution of neoliberal agricultural policy via kantei-led agricultural policy]. Nihon nōgyō no ugoki 191: 8–19.Google Scholar
Nōgyō to keizai henshū iinkai. 2011. Kiiwaado de yomitoku gendai nōgyō to shokuryō·kankyō [Reading contemporary agriculture, food and environment through key words]. Tokyo: Shōwadō.Google Scholar
Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). 2019. “Fact Sheet on Agriculture-Related Provisions of the U.S.–Japan Trade Agreement.”Google Scholar
Saitō, Ken. 2016. “Jimintō ga kangaeru Abenomikusu nōsei no nerai” [The aims of Abenomics agricultural policy according to the LDP]. Nihon nōgyō no ugoki 191: 20–44.Google Scholar
Nobukazu, Taniguchi. 2015. “Abenomics nōsei no [zentaizō]: zaikaishudōgata nōsei e no tenkan” (An overview of Abenomics agricultural policy: the conversion to zaikai-led agricultural policy). In Abenomics nōsei no ikikata: nōsei no kihon hōshin to minaoshi no ronten (The direction of Abenomics agricultural policy: Basic policies and issues for reconsideration in agricultural policy), edited by Taniguchi, Nobukazu and Ishii, Keiichi, pp.1–22. Tokyo: Nōrintōkeikyōkai.Google Scholar
Yamashita, Kazuhito. 2008. “The Issues in the Farmland System.” Tokyo Foundation, December 16. www.tokyofoundation.org/en/articles/2008/the-issues-inthe-farmland-system, accessed January 15, 2014.Google Scholar

Interviews

Ikuo Kabashima, governor of Kumamoto Prefecture, Kumamoto City, June 4, 2014.

Masayoshi Honma, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, May 29, 2014.

JA representatives, Kumamoto City, June–July 2014.

Taro Kohno, LDP lower house member from Kanagawa Prefecture, Tokyo, August 2014.

Sakae Hirose, mayor of Yabu City, Tokyo, June 5, 2014.

Takeshi Noda, lower house member from Kumamoto City, Tokyo, June 6, 2014.

Officials, Kumamoto Prefecture Bureau of Agriculture, Kumamoto City, June 5, 2014.

Kazuhito Yamashita, Canon Institute for Global Studies, Tokyo, January 5, 2015.

Kazuhito Yamashita. October 7, 2017.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×