J. A. A. Stockwin received a degree at Oxford in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1959 and a doctorate in International Relations from the Australian National University in Canberra in 1965. He taught in the Department of Political Science at the Australian National University until 1981; and was Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford from 1982 to 2003. Stockwin remains active in researching and writing on the politics of Japan.

This fourth edition provides an in-depth, up-to-date, chronological analysis of Japan’s current political system and the contributions of its leaders. It emphasizes why Japan and its politics matters in a global society.

Ideal for college courses on Japanese or comparative politics as well as for those interested in Japanese war memory, constitutional revision, and Japan’s relationship with the US, China, and North and South Korea

Investigates the divided aspects existing below the veneer of consensus in Japanese politics

Explores conflicts between power-hungry political groups as well as fundamental differences regarding Japan’s constitution, the interpretation of Japanese actions in the Asia-Pacific War, and Japan’s place in today’s world

Advocates a system that readily permits changes of party in power for the present system dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party

Examines the extreme statements of high profile politicians to determine whether a "nationalist resurgence” in Japan is real or not

Sheds light on the official incompetence and the spectacular rise of civil society following the Kobe earthquake

Features numerous Japanese sources