Japan's earthquake changes the world

Who are Japan's ruling class? Japan's bureaucracy rules the country. The bureaucrats are a remarkably stable class. At certain age they retire into senior positions in companies like Tokyo Electric that owns the nuclear plant in crisis, a practice called amakudari. In theory, Japan's bureaucrats are the best and the brightest in the country. The senior people in the bureaucracy are almost all graduates of Tokyo University. Their superiority over the population was unquestioned for a long time and remains extremely high. However the record is not there to back up their prestige. Japan's post-WW II recovery was often attributed to this ruling class, personified in the MITI's planning. The evidences are quite mixed on the MITI's record. The buildup of infrastructure was important to the country's...

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Posted in: Japan