Based on extensive field research, Daniel Aldrich’s and Akihiro Ogawa’s books explore the complicated nature of civil society in Japan. Aldrich shows the potential of civil society in the siting of controversial facilities like nuclear power plants, dams, and airports while Ogawa shows how the state delegated to non-governmental organizations responsibilities to manage the growing demands of an aging society. Both draw pessimistic conclusions about the dominance of the government and bureaucracies over civil society in Japan, but provide great insights that help us understand some of the political factors that contributed to the nuclear crisis in March of 2011, and the role Japan's NGOs played in the response to the disaster.
Daniel Aldrich's book should be read by anyone interested in Japanese politics in general and those who want to have a deeper understanding of the politics behind the siting of what Aldrich calls “public bads”: facilities that impose...
