Contemporary Civil Service Reforms in Japan
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Contemporary Civil Service Reforms in Japan Takashi Nishio Department of Politics and International Studies, International Christian University, Mitaka, Japan
Synonyms Reforms in the human resource management in Japan; The Japanese civil service; The political control of the Japanese bureaucracy
Definition The political and administrative reforms related to the civil service system and personnel management in Japan from the mid-1990s to 2020.
Introduction Modern Japan underwent at least three major civil service reforms. The first was the introduction of a modern examination and personnel system for public service based on a merit principle in the late nineteenth century. The second was the postwar civil service reform initiated by the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces (GHQ) as an important part of the constitutional reform in 1947, through which the Emperor’s bureaucrats
were regarded as “servants of the whole community” (article 15, the Constitution of Japan). The third reform started in the mid-1990s and lasted until the establishment of the Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs in 2014, but the political and administrative adjustment to the new system is continuing. This article focuses on the third, ongoing reform. While the postwar civil service reform was fundamental in terms of democratization and in the words of the constitution, some parts of the prewar Japan’s bureaucratic system survived because the GHQ adopted the “indirect rule” to implement their occupation policies. For example, the privileged entrance selection system, in which the category of the examination for service matters throughout the career of each official, continues even now. In so-called “career system,” those fast streamers who passed the type 1 examination will be promoted much higher than other categories, including technical officials, without receiving strict check about their real abilities or achievement (Kawate 2005). As the tradition of closed, decentralized personnel system by each ministry has not undergone a radical reform, the pathology of compartmentalism and weak coordination by the cabinet has been a long-lasting issue. The establishment of the National Personnel Authority (NPA) as an autonomous, authoritative administrative committee in 1948 was expected to overcome this problem but the other ministries
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continued the decentralized and closed appointment system. The need for civil service reform has been discussed repeatedly since around 1960. The Provisional Commission for Administrative Reform (PCAR or Rincho, 1961–64) emphasized the importance of civil service spirit but the people did not take it seriously because of the successful economic growth by Ikeda Administration. The second Rincho (1981–83) submitted five reports including proposals for a more efficient and slim government, but the major reform was the privatization
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