Deck 6: Japan

Question 1

Which of the following statements about the position of the Japanese prime minister is accurate?

A) The prime minister is appointed by the emperor and then sent for approval by the Diet.
B) The prime minister is chosen by the House of Representatives and is subject to approval by the House of Councillors.
C) The prime minister draws the cabinet from the House of Councillors.
D) The prime minister is elected by the political party holding a majority of seats in the House of Representatives.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

As they came into power in 2009 the Democratic Party of Japan promised voters to

A) maintain corporate welfare.
B) expand public works.
C) weaken the iron triangle.
D) end support of agriculture.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

In which of the following ways does the Japanese Diet's House of Councillors differ from the House of Representatives?

A) It is more susceptible to the introduction of pork-barrel projects.
B) It cannot be dissolved.
C) It has more power than its counterpart.
D) Its members are elected more frequently.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In which of the following ways does the Liberal Democratic Party differ from the Democratic Party of Japan?

A) It expresses less nationalist sentiment.
B) It has largely avoided charges of corruption.
C) It has demonstrated more electoral success in the aggregate.
D) It has managed to avoid participation in a "twisted Diet."

Question 5

Ainu and burakumin are examples of

A) new quasi-federal regions in Japan.
B) environmental groups in Japan.
C) neocorporatist business organizations inside the iron triangle.
D) groups in Japan that face discrimination.

Question 6

Japan's iron triangle includes which of the following three constituencies?

A) workers,politicians,bureaucrats
B) politicians,businessmen,workers
C) businessmen,soldiers,politicians
D) bureaucrats,businessmen,politicians

Question 7

Japan's lower house is elected by which of the following electoral systems?

A) single-member district
B) proportional representation
C) plurality single-member district
D) mixed single-member district and proportional representation

Question 8

Which of the following statements about the Meiji Restoration is accurate?

A) Cabinet ministers held real power,and the position of emperor was reduced to a symbolic figurehead.
B) It involved creation of a Western-style parliament in which delegates had little real power.
C) Oligarchs furthered the restoration by eliminating all traces of native religions and embracing secularism.
D) Meiji foreign policy involved a shattering of treaties with the West while emulating Western policies.

Question 9

Which of the following best describes the components of the Yoshida Doctrine?

A) focus on domestic economic recovery and reliance on American military protection
B) replacement of state corporatism with more liberal economic policies
C) abandonment of agricultural and corporate subsidies
D) a turning away from foreign interventions and a focus on domestic political development

Question 10

Historically,Japan's political leadership has been characterized by a persistent division of labor between

A) bourgeoisie and proletariat.
B) those who rule and those who symbolically reign.
C) shoguns and zaibatsu.
D) warriors and clerics.

Question 11

The shogun was the title for feudal Japan's

A) dominant lords.
B) largest castles.
C) lowly peasant class.
D) Chinese mercenaries.

Question 12

Which of the following is the best description of the period known as Taisho democracy?

A) feudal-era localized democratic experiments
B) political system imposed on colonies by imperial Japan
C) elitist democracy practiced in Japan today
D) short-lived era of democratization during the 1920s

Question 13

Which of the following best describes Japan's process of developing a modern economy and political structure?

A) Modern economic and political development came through centuries of grassroots industrialization and local democracy.
B) Modern economic and political development came primarily through a popular revolution in the sixteenth century that created one of the world's first democracies.
C) Modern economic and political development occurred in a rapid,top-down process forced by elites in the late nineteenth century.
D) Modern economic and political development was a product of post-World War II Japanese emulation of Western European states.

Question 14

In recent years,no ruling party or coalition has controlled both legislative chambers,a condition referred to in Japan as

A) a hung parliament.
B) cohabitation.
C) a twisted Diet.
D) a divided Diet.

Question 15

Japan's nineteenth-century modernizing slogan "rich country,strong military" best reflects which one of the following political economic systems?

A) mercantilist
B) social-democratic
C) communist
D) liberal

Question 16

Which of the following descriptions best characterizes the nature of Japan's postwar party system?

A) two-party system
B) long-term domination by a single party
C) fragmentation across nearly a dozen small parties
D) series of alternating coalitions from the left and the right

Question 17

The Meiji Restoration refers to the

A) nineteenth-century modernizing revolution in Japan.
B) eighth-century introduction of Buddhism to Japan.
C) seventeenth-century introduction of Christianity to Japan.
D) resurgence of Shintoism in feudal Japan.

Question 18

Article 9 in Japan's postwar constitution

A) severely restricts immigration.
B) renounces war as a sovereign right.
C) renounces the emperor's divinity.
D) separates church and state.

Question 19

Which of the following statements about Japan's Liberal Democratic Party is accurate?

A) It has traditionally been marked by a very democratic internal party process.
B) It represents the "half" of Japan's former one-and-a-half party system.
C) It is the most left-leaning of Japan's major parties.
D) It maintains a largely nonideological commitment to winning elections.

Question 20

Amakudari,or "descent from heaven," refers to

A) the creation myth legitimizing the divine right of Japan's emperor.
B) the practice of retiring bureaucrats assuming positions in corporations or public office.
C) government loans to Japan's strategic industries.
D) illicit campaign contributions coming from corporations.

Question 21

Describe Japan's industrial policy.How did government guidance and support lead to decades of booming growth,and what were the structural problems that became apparent in the 1990s?

Question 22

The term zombies refers to

A) lifetime Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) members of parliament in Japan backed by koenkai.
B) insolvent firms in Japan propped up by the government.
C) opposition parties in Japan's parliament that have no power or influence.
D) outdated political policies that still shape LDP policies in Japan.

Question 23

Japan currently faces territorial issues with which three of the following countries?

A) North Korea,China,and the Philippines
B) North Korea,Russia,and the Philippines
C) Russia,China,and South Korea
D) Russia,Taiwan,and South Korea

Question 24

Discuss the consequences of Japan's historical division of labor between political rulers (shogun,Meiji oligarchs,MacArthur,bureaucrats) and those who reign (emperor,parliament) for the autonomy and capacity of the Japanese state.

Question 25

Which of the following best describes the majority of current Japanese attitudes toward foreign policy?

A) isolationist
B) militarist
C) pacifist
D) integrationist (favoring an EU-like model for Asia)

Question 26

Would you judge the reforms imposed on Japan during the American occupation successful and beneficial? Why or why not?

Question 27

How does Japan's current economic situation compare to its economy during the 1980s?

A) Iron triangles have less influence in the current economy.
B) The current economy experiences lower unemployment but higher GDP per capita than was seen in the 1980s.
C) The developmental capitalist model has been traded for a liberal model with very little state influence.
D) The government carries more public debt now than it had in the 1980s.

Question 28

The iron triangle of "Japan,Inc.," has come under increased criticism and scrutiny recently because of

A) the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
B) revelations of scandals within the triangle.
C) growing Chinese military dominance in the region.
D) the inability of Japan,Inc.,to dominate new Chinese and South Korean tech producers.

Question 29

What impact did postwar democratization and Westernization have on the development of civil society in Japan? Does the Japanese bureaucracy limit or facilitate widespread civil society participation in government?

Question 30

Explain Japan's "one-and-a-half" party system.Why was that system so stable and why did that stability fracture in 2007?