Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T13:48:38.474Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Introduction to Special Issue: Japan's Crisis Management amid Growing Complexity: In Search of New Approaches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2013

ALEXANDRA SAKAKI  and
KERSTIN LUKNER
ALEXANDRA SAKAKI
Affiliation:
German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin, [email protected]
KERSTIN LUKNER
Affiliation:
Institutes of East Asian Studies and Political Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The 3/11 triple disaster, comprising the powerful earthquake, devastating tsunami, and nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power complex, has drawn worldwide attention to Japan's crisis management capabilities. This article lays out key concepts used in analyzing crises and addresses major trends in contemporary crisis management endeavors. It then turns to the Japanese case, identifying six key themes in the debates about the country's crisis management capabilities. In tracing and exploring past reform efforts, the article assesses characteristics and highlights perceived deficiencies in Japan's approach. The final part provides a brief overview of the case studies presented in this special issue, pinpointing recurrent themes and enduring problems observed in recent crisis management efforts.

Type
Introduction
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 14 , Special Issue 2: Japan's Crisis Management amid Growing Complexity: In Search of New Approaches , June 2013 , pp. 155 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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

Amyx, Jennifer Ann (2004), Japan's Financial Crisis: Institutional Rigidity and Reluctant Change, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (1985a), ‘Gyōkakushin bunkakai, naikaku chūsū no kyōka teigen ‘gaisei chōseishitsu’ o shinsetsu’ (Subcommittee of the Provisional Council for the Promotion of Administrative Reform Proposes Strengthening of the Cabinet's Center – Newly Established ‘Cabinet Councilors’ Office on External Affairs’), Asahi Shimbun, morning edition, 18 June 1985.Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (1985b), ‘Naikaku kinō kyōkasaku, ohizamoto no kentōi de nankō – gyōkakushin tōshin ni gimon ga zokushutsu’ (Policy to Strengthen Cabinet Functions Experiences Difficulties Due to Closely Related Investigation Committee – Doubts Arising about Report from the Provisional Council for the Promotion of Administrative Reform), Asahi Shimbun, morning edition, 1 September 1985.Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (2012a), ‘“Jieitai ni kōinshō” 9-warichō shinsai toki no katsudō hyōka naikakufu yoronchōsa’ (Cabinet Office Public Opinion Poll Evaluating Activities During Disaster: More than 90 Percent ‘Good Impression of SDF’), Asahi Shimbun, 11 March 2012.Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (2012b), ‘Edano Admits Gap in Communications during Nuclear Crisis’, Asahi Shimbun, 28 May 2012, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201205280079. Accessed 29 May 2012.Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (2012c), ‘Japan Embarrassed Again over N. Korean Launch’, Asahi Shimbun, 14 April 2012, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201204140045. Accessed 16 June 2012.Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (2012d), ‘Reconstruction Efforts should Focus more on Livelihoods’, Asahi Shimbun, 10 March 2011, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/editorial/AJ201203100037. Accessed 23 July 2012.Google Scholar
Asahi Shimbun (2012e), ‘Report Says Kan's Meddling Disrupted Fukushima Response’, Asahi Shimbun, 29 February 2012, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201202290019. Accessed 1 March 2012.Google Scholar
Asia-Pacific Journal (2011), ‘Protests: The 20 Millisievert Decision and the Future of Atomic Energy in Japan’, Asia Pacific Journal, 8 May 2011, http://www.japanfocus.org/events/view/86. Accessed 10 July 2012.Google Scholar
Avenell, Simon (2012), ‘From Kobe to Tohoku: The Potential and the Peril of a Volunteer Infrastructure’, in Jeff Kingston (ed.), Natural Disaster and Nuclear Crisis in Japan – Response and Recovery after Japan's 3/11, London: Routledge, pp. 53–77.Google Scholar
Beck, Ulrich (1999), World Risk Society, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Boin, Arjen and Hart, Paul ‘t (2003), ‘Public Leadership in Times of Crisis: Mission Impossible?’, Public Administration Review, 63 (5) (September/ October): 544–52.Google Scholar
Boin, Arjen, ‘t Hart, Paul, Stern, Eric, and Sundelius, Bengt (2005), The Politics of Crisis Management: Public Leadership under Pressure, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brosner, Leo (2002), ‘Emergency Preparedness: How Japan and the United States Compare’, Asia Perspectives, 4 (2) (spring): 17–20.Google Scholar
Cabinet Office Japan (2006), Disaster Management in Japan, Tokyo: Director General for Disaster Management/ Cabinet Office, http://www.bousai.go.jp/1info/pdf/saigaipanf_e.pdf. Accessed 5 June 2012.Google Scholar
Curtis, Gerald L. (2012), ‘Tohoku Diary: Reportage on the Tohoku Disaster’, in Kingston, Jeff (ed.), Natural Disaster and Nuclear Crisis in Japan – Response and Recovery after Japan's 3/11, London: Routledge, pp. 15–32.Google Scholar
Farazmand, Ali (2009), ‘Hurricane Katrina, the Crisis of Leadership, and Chaos Management: Time for Trying the “Surprise Management Theory in Action”‘, Public Organization Review (9): 399–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrell, William R. (1999), Crisis and Opportunity in a Changing Japan, London: Quorum Books.Google Scholar
Furukawa, Shunichi (2000), ‘An Institutional Framework for Japanese Crisis Management’, Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 8 (1) (March): 3–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaikō Fōramu (2003), ‘“Kikikanri” o nihon, nihonjin no nekku to shinai tame ni – taikenteki kikikanriron’ (Ensuring that ‘Crisis Management’ Does not Turn into a Bottleneck for Japan and the Japanese: Discussion about Experiences in Crisis Management), Gaikō Fōramu (Foreign Policy Forum), 16 (8) (August): 18–27.Google Scholar
Haddow, George D., Bullock, Jane A., and Coppola, Damon P. (2011), Introduction to Emergency Management, fourth edition, Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinmann.Google Scholar
Hongo, Jun (2012), ‘A Year On: Tohoku Stuck in Limbo’, Japan Times, 11 March 2012, www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120311f1.html. Accessed 24 July 2012.Google Scholar
Hook, Glenn D., Gilson, Julie, Hughes, Christopher W., and Dobson, Hugo (2005), Japan's International Relations – Politics, Economics and Security, second edition, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Japan Times (2011), ‘Editorial: Go-Ahead for Reconstruction’, Japan Times, 27 June 2011, www.japantimes.co.jp/text/ed20110627a1.html. Accessed 3 July 2012.Google Scholar
Jarvis, Darryl S. L. (2007), ‘Risk, Globalisation and the State: A Critical Appraisal of Ulrich Beck and the World Risk Society Thesis’, Global Society, 21 (1): 23–46.Google Scholar
Katō, Naoki and Ōta, Fumio (2010), Kiki kanri no riron to jissen (Theory and Practice of Crisis Management), Tokyo: Fuyoshobō.Google Scholar
Kawato, Yuko and Pekkanen, Robert (2008), ‘Civil Society and Democracy: Reforming Nonprofit Organization Law’, in Martin, Sherry L. and Steel, Gill (eds.), Democratic Reform in Japan: Assessing the Impact, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, pp. 193–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimura, Hideaki (2012), ‘US Forces Japan Received SPEEDI Data before Kan’, Asahi Shimbun, 9 March 2012, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/special/prometheus_4/AJ201203090100. Accessed 2 May 2012.Google Scholar
Kingston, Jeff (2011), ‘Ousting Kan Naoto: The Politics of Nuclear Crisis and Renewable Energy in Japan’, Asia-Pacific Journal, 9 (5) (September 26), www.japanfocus.org/-Jeff-Kingston/3610. Accessed 10 July 2012.Google Scholar
Kingston, Jeff (2012), ‘The Politics of Disaster, Nuclear Crisis and Recovery’, in Kingston, Jeff (ed.), Natural Disaster and Nuclear Crisis in Japan – Response and Recovery after Japan's 3/11, London: Routledge, pp. 188–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krauss, Ellis S. (1989), ‘Politics and Policymaking Process’, in Ishida, Takeshi and Krauss, Ellis S. (eds.), Democracy in Japan, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Kurata, Hideyo (2001), ‘Kiki kanri no genten to wa ga kuni no jittai’ (The Origin of Crisis Management and Our Country's Actual Condition), The Senken Keizai, 11 June 2001, 12–16.Google Scholar
Lagadec, Patrick (2006), ‘Crisis Management in the Twenty-First Century: “Unthinkable” Events in “Inconceivable” Contexts’, in Rodriguez, Havidan, Quarantelli, Enrico L., and Dynes, Russel R. (eds.), Handbook of Disaster Research, New York: Springer, pp. 489–507.Google Scholar
Lukner, Kerstin (2006), Japans Rolle in der UNO: Grundlage für einen ständigen Sitz im Weltsicherheitsrat? (Japan's Role in the United Nations: Basis for a Permanent Seat on the Security Council?), Baden-Baden: Nomos.Google Scholar
Lukner, Kerstin and Sakaki, Alexandra (2011), ‘Blockade durch Misstrauen: Das Fukushima-Krisenmanagement der Demokratischen Partei Japans’ (Impeded by Distrust: The Fukushima Crisis Management of the Democratic Party of Japan), WeltTrends, 80 (September/October): 49–58.Google Scholar
Matsuda, Yasuhiro (2011), ‘Naikaku no anzen hoshō, kikikanri kinō no kyōka ni nani ga hitsuyō ka’ (What Is Necessary for the Strengthening of the Cabinet's Security Policy and Crisis Management Functions?), Gaikō (Diplomacy), 5 (January): 119–26.Google Scholar
Matsutani, Minoru (2012), ‘Disasters Kick-Started Dormant Volunteer Spirit’, Japan Times, 5 January 2012, www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120105f1.html. Accessed 24 July 2012.Google Scholar
Ministry of Defense (2006), Defense of Japan, Tokyo: Ministry of Defense, www.mod.go.jp/e/publ/w_paper/2006.html. Accessed 23 July 2012.Google Scholar
Ministry of Defense (2011), ‘The SDF'S Activities in the Great East Japan Earthquake’, Japan Defense Focus (22) (August): 2, www.mod.go.jp/e/jdf/pdf/jdf_no22.pdf. Accessed 18 July 2012.Google Scholar
Mizokami, Kyle (2011), Great Tohoku Earthquake: Military Movements, New Pacific Institute, 11 March 2011, http://jsw.newpacificinstitute.org/?p=5267. Accessed 17 July 2012.Google Scholar
Nakabayashi, Itsuki (2010), ‘Disaster Management System for Wide-Area Support and Collaboration in Japan: Focused on Mega-Disaster in Tokyo Metropolitan Region’, Toshi Kagaku Kenkyū (3) (March): 73–81.Google Scholar
Nakamura, Akira (2000), ‘The Need and Development of Crisis Management in Japan's Public Administration: Lessons from the Kobe Earthquake’, Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 8 (1) (March): 23–9.Google Scholar
Nakamura, Akira (2001), ‘Preparing for the Inevitable: Japan's Ongoing Search for Best Crisis Management Practices’, in Rosenthal, Uriel, Boin, R. Arjen, and Comfort, Louise K. (eds.), Managing Crises – Threats, Dilemmas, Opportunities, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, pp. 307–15.Google Scholar
Nakanishi, Hiroshi (2010), ‘Kiki kanri nōryoku naki minshutō seiken’ (The DPJ Administration Lacking Crisis Management Competence), Ushio (622) (December): 62–7.Google Scholar
Nakanishi, Hiroshi and Gemba, Kōichirō (2012), ‘Nichibeichū taiwa no toki – Ajia taiheiyō chitsujo to netto waaku gaikō’ (The Time for Dialogue between Japan, the United States, and China – the Asia-Pacific Order and Network Diplomacy), Gaikō (Diplomacy), 11 (January): 12–21.Google Scholar
Noda, Yoshihiko (2012), Press Conference by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, 11 March 2012, www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/noda/statement/201203/11kaiken_e.html. Accessed 13 August 2012.Google Scholar
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) (2009), OECD Reviews of Risk Management Policies Japan 2009: Large Scale Floods and Earthquakes, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Oros, Andrew L. and Tatsumi, Yuki (2010), Global Security Watch Japan, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pangi, Robyn (2002), ‘Consequence Management in the 1995 Sarin Attacks on the Japanese Subway System’, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 25 (6): 421–48.Google Scholar
Purrington, Courtney and Kato, Akira (1991), ‘Tokyo's Policy Responses during the Gulf Crisis’, Asian Survey, 31 (4) (April): 307–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, Uriel, Boin, R. Arjen, and Comfort, Louise K. (2001), ‘The Changing World of Crises and Crisis Management’, in Rosenthal, Uriel, Boin, R. Arjen, and Comfort, Louise K. (eds.), Managing Crises – Threats, Dilemmas, Opportunities, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, pp. 5–27.Google Scholar
Sakaki, Alexandra (2012), Japan and Germany as Regional Actors: Evaluating Change and Continuity after the Cold War, London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sakamoto, Masaru (2001), ‘Crisis Management in Japan – Lessons from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995’, in Farazmand, Ali (ed.), Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management, Basel: Marcel Dekker Publishing, pp. 559–80.Google Scholar
Samuels, Richard (2012), ‘The Rhetoric of Crisis’, Presentation at the Free University of Berlin, 9 July 2012.Google Scholar
Samuels, Richard (forthcoming), The Rhetoric of Crisis, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Schoff, James L. (2004), Crisis Management in Japan and the United States: Creating Opportunities for Cooperation amid Dramatic Change, Herndon, VA: Brassey's.Google Scholar
Schwarz, Frank (2002), ‘Civil Society in Japan Reconsidered’, Japanese Journal of Political Science, 3 (2) (November): 195–215.Google Scholar
Shikata, Toshiyuki (2002), ‘The New Cabinet Crisis Management Center and the Leadership of the Prime Minister’, Asia-Pacific Review, 9 (2): 79–92.Google Scholar
Shinoda, Tomohito (2003), ‘Koizumi's Top-Down Leadership in the Anti-Terrorism Legislation: The Impact of Political Institutional Changes’, SAIS Review, 23 (1) (Winter/Spring): 19–34.Google Scholar
Shinoda, Tomohito (2007), Koizumi Diplomacy – Japan's Kantei Approach to Foreign and Defense Affairs, Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Shinoda, Tomohito (2011), ‘Stronger Political Leadership and Shift in Policy-Making Boundaries in Japan’, in Hook, Glenn D. (ed.), Decoding Boundaries in Contemporary Japan: The Koizumi Administration and Beyond, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Shiomi, Kazuya and Izumi, Dai (2008), ‘Lack of Local-Level Funds Slows Proliferation of J-Alert System’, Japan Times, 17 July 2008, www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20080717f2.html#.UAViNboWLDY. Accessed 10 May 2012.Google Scholar
Soeya, Yoshihide (1998), ‘Normative Constraints vs. Structural Imperatives’, in Alagappa, Muthiah (ed.), Asian Security Practice: Material and Ideational Influences, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 198–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soeya, Yoshihide (2011), ‘A “Normal” Middle Power: Interpreting Changes in Japanese Security Policy in the 1990s and After’, in Soeya, Yoshihide, Tadokoro, Masayuki, and Welch, David A., Japan as a ‘Normal Country’? A Nation in Search of Its Place in the World, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 72–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takahashi, Hideyuki (2011), ‘Kokka anzen hoshō senryaku sakutei ni fukaketsuna nihon-ban NSC setsuritsu ni mukete – kokunan no ima koso ōdanteki ishikettei shisutemu kakuritsu o’ (Establishing a Japanese National Security Council, which is Indispensible for Planning National Security – the Horizontal Decision-Making System to Solve the Current National Crisis), Kokusai Anzen Hoshō (Journal of International Security), 39 (3) (December): 14–27.Google Scholar
Tamura, Taro (2011), Current Situation of Volunteer Activities in the Disaster Zone, 11 April 2011, Tasukeai Japan, http://english.tasukeaijapan.jp/?p=28. Accessed 15 July 2012.Google Scholar
Tanifuji, Etsushi (2000), ‘Crisis Awareness and Organizational Response Capabilities in Present Japanese Local Governments: Crisis Awareness Survey Findings’, Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 8 (1) (March): 30–41.Google Scholar
Yamaguchi, Noboru (2012), Redefining the Japan–US Alliance, www.nippon.com/en/features/c00204. Accessed 20 July 2012.Google Scholar
Yomiuri Shimbun (2012a), ‘Diet Passes Bill on New Nuclear Agency’, Yomiuri Shimbun, 22 June 2012, www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120621004052.htm. Accessed 3 December 2012.Google Scholar
Yomiuri Shimbun (2012b), ‘Reinforce Japan–US Joint Response to Contingencies’, Yomiuri Shimbun, 2 April 2012, www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/editorial/T120401002536.htm. Accessed 4 April 2012.Google Scholar
Zaikai (2010), ‘Towareru Hatoyama seiken no kikikanri’ (The Questionable Crisis Management of the Hatoyama Administration), Zaikai (Financial World), 58 (12): 26–9.Google Scholar