Consumer politics in postwar Japan : the institutional boundaries of citizen activism / Patricia L. Maclachlan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Maclachlan, Patricia L.

Series:

Studies of the East Asian Institute

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consumer protection--Japan--History.

Consumer protection.

Consumer protection--History.

History.

Japan.

Physical Description:

xi, 322 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, [2002]

Summary:

Organized largely by and for housewives and spurred by major cases of price gouging and product contamination, Japan's postwar consumer protection movement led to the passage of basic consumer protection legislation in 1968. Though much of the story concerns the famous "iron triangle" of big business, national bureaucrats, and conservative party politics, Maclachlan also points to the importance of activity at the local level, the role of minority parties, the limited utility of the courts, and the place of lawyers and academics in providing access to power.

Contents:

Part 1 Japanese Consumer Advocacy from Theoretical, Comparative, and Historical Perspectives 11

1. Toward a Framework for the Study of Consumer Advocacy 13

2. Consumer Advocacy in the United States and Britain 31

3. The Politics of an Emerging Consumer Movement: The Occupation Period 58

4. Consumer Politics Under Early One-Party Dominance: 1955 to the Late 1960s 85

5. The Post-1968 Consumer Protection Policymaking System and the Consumer Movement's Response 111

Part 2 Case Studies: The Impact of Japanese Consumer Advocacy on Policymaking 141

6. The Right to Choose: The Movement to Amend the Antimonopoly Law 143

7. The Right to Safety: The Movement to Oppose the Deregulation of Food Additives 175

8. The Right to Redress: The Movement to Enact a Product Liability Law 201

9. The Right to Be Heard: The Past, Present, and Future of the Japanese Consumer Movement 233.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [277]-304) and index.

ISBN:

0231123469

0231123477

OCLC:

47056322