This volume presents the research and insights of six authors concerning the first general election in Japan’s House of Representatives since the passage in 1994 of a political and electoral reform law. The October 1996 election was seen by reformers as a litmus test for the new law, which they thought would alter the style of campaigning in Japan. Campaign strategies dependent on the clout of an individual candidate’s koenkai, or personal support group, were expected to give way to strategies emphasizing party-based electioneering.

The essays collected here conclude that actual campaigning style remained mostly unchanged. authors focus on individual politicians of varied standing within the Diet, their koenkai in both urban and rural areas, and the large companies and their unions that endorse candidates. Five appendices explain the election system and political reform, give the distribution of seats under the new Lower House electoral system, show the election standings for 1993 and 1996 and party realignment between 1955 and 1996, and list abbreviations of political parties.

This publication was the result of a study on the “Japanese Politics in the New Era,” which was carried out as part of the Global ThinkNet Fellows program.