In this new analysis of democracy in Japan, Bradley Richardson refutes the widely accepted hypothesis that postwar Japan has been a semiauthoritarian and consensual state, heavily influenced by corporations and led by the government bureaucracy. On the contrary, Richardson's extensive newspaper and documentary research shows that Japanese political life has been extremely fragmented and discordant at all levels--in the bureaucracy, legislatures, parties, and interest groups, and in business and industry. Even the seemingly invulnerable Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which ruled Japan for...

Career Comeback helps you create a powerful plan to get back on top
The author of the national bestseller JobSmarts for TwentySomethings, Bradley Richardson is one of America s top career experts. But he also knows what it is like to experience a career setback. When an entrepreneurial effort failed and he was forced to become a job seeker himself, Richardson discovered firsthand the emotional, social, and financial stress that comes with losing a job. In Career Comeback, Richardson shares his years of expertise along with the hard lessons he learned in the trenches...