Grappling with Clientelism: The Japanese State and Okinawa under Abe Shinzo

Abstract

This is a slightly expanded version of the talk delivered by the author upon the occasion of the launch of his The State of the Japanese State at Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ), Tokyo, on 17 October 2018.(1) It traces the evolution of Japan, especially under Abe Shinzo, as a "client state" (defined by Wikipedia as "a state that is economically, politically, or militarily subordinate to another, more powerful state") of the United States. It considers what I now refer to as Mark One and Mark Two versions of that "client state" in the post-Cold War era, and discusses the persistent challenge to the clientelist frame arising from the Okinawan refusal to submit to it. It raises finally the possibility of either a Mark Three or of Japan's future sloughing off client state status altogether. Taking off from the book, it goes beyond it.