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Japanese liberalism(自由主義 or リベラリズム)[note 1] formed in the nineteenth century as a reaction against traditional society. In the twentieth century 'liberal'(自由) gradually became a synonym forconservative, and today the main conservative party in the country is namedLiberal Democratic Party (自由民主党,Jiyū-Minshutō). The defunctDemocratic Party (民主党,Minshutō) was considered in part a centrist-liberal party, as are most parties which derived from it. The liberal character of theLiberal League (自由連合,Jiyū Rengō) is disputed, as it is also considered to be conservative by some. This article is limited toliberal(リベラル)parties with substantial support, proved by having had representation in parliament.
Liberals in Japan are generally considered united by one major factor: their opposition to changing the post-World War II constitution forbidding the creation of a national military.[2]
Before the 1990s, Japanese liberals did not form a prominent individual political party.
Since the 1990s, most conservative liberals have left the LDP. TheJapan New Party (JNP) andNew Party Sakigake are the parties founded by Japanese conservative-liberals against the LDP's nationalist project, which lead to theDemocratic Party of Japan (DPJ)-liberalism tradition. Japan's previous liberal party, the DPJ, was led bymoderates of both the right-wing LDP and left-wing JSP.
Currently, the LDP has not been considered a liberal party. In the past, liberals in the LDP became opposition forces after leaving the party, so "liberal" generally became a force against "conservative" in Japanese politics in the 21st century. The current DPJ-liberalism tradition is being continued by theConstitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ).[7]
As the LDP becomes an increasingly solidconservative party, and thesocialist movement that led the traditional anti-LDP camp has lost control in Japan's opposition political camp, gradually shifting from thecentre-right "liberal" in theEuropean andAustralian sense of the past to thecentre-left "liberal" in theAmerican sense.[1] Currently, the LDP is the largest conservative party in Japan, and the CDPJ is the largest liberal party in Japan.
The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it isn't necessary that parties labelled themselves "liberal".
From Public Party of Patriots until Constitutional Party
1882: TheRikken Kaishintō (立憲改進党, Constitutional Reform Party) is formed
1896: The party is continued by theShimpotō (進歩党, Progressive Party)
1898: The party merged into the ⇒ Kenseitō
1898: The Kenseitō fell apart and a faction formed theKensei Hontō (憲政本党, Orthodox Constitutional Party), renamed in 1910 into theRikken Kokumintō (立憲国民党, Constitutional National Party)
1913: A faction seceded as the ⇒ Rikken Dōshikai
1922: The Rikken Kokumintō is renamedKakushin Club (革新倶楽部, Reform Club)
1920s: The Kakushin Club merged into the Rikken Seiyūkai
From Association of Friends of the Constitution to Constitutional Democratic Party
1913: A faction of the ⇒ Rikken Kokumintō formed theRikken Dōshikai (立憲同志会, Association of Friends of the Constitution), renamedKenseikai (憲政会, Constitutional Politics Association) in 1916
1927: The Kenseikai merged with the ⇒ Seiyūhontō into theRikken Minseitō (立憲民政党, Constitutional Democratic Party)
1940: The party is dissolved by the military junta
In postwar Japan, liberal (リベラル) tendencies did not stand out much among major political parties for more than 40 years. During the Japanese Empire, liberals, including theConstitutional Democratic Party, were swept away by several political parties. The center-right liberal-conservatives (自由保守主義) became the 'leftist faction' of the right-wing conservativeLiberal Democratic Party, and the center-left progressive-liberals (革新自由主義) formed the 'rightist faction' within the left-wingSocialist Party.
1993: A liberal faction of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (自由民主党,Jiyū-Minshutō) seceded as theNew Harbinger Party (新党さきがけ,Shintō Sakigake)
1996: Most members left to co-found the ⇒ Democratic Party of Japan
1998: The remainder of the party evolved in conservative direction and renamed itself as Harbinger (さきがけ,Sakigake), before becoming the ecologistGreen Assembly (みどりの会議,Midori no Kaigi) in 2002
1998: The party merged with the Good Governance Party, the New Fraternity Party and the Democratic Reform Party to form a new, enlargedDemocratic Party of Japan (1998) (民主党,Minshutō)
2003: The ⇒ Liberal Party (1998) merged into the party
2018: The remaining Democratic Party merged withKibō no Tō to form theDemocratic Party for the People (国民民主党,Kokumin Minshutō), which includes liberals and conservatives.
2020: The majority faction of DPP merged into the new CDP, while the minority faction remain in the DPP.
^In Japan,American andEuropean style "liberal" / "liberalism" is often referred to as "リベラル" / "リベラリズム" inkatakana.[1] Although the term "自由主義" inkanji is also synonymous with "リベラリズム", "自由主義" is also used by conservatives, includingLDP, in a similar sense toanti-communism oreconomic liberalism.
^Arthur Stockwin; Kweku Ampiah, eds. (2017).Rethinking Japan: The Politics of Contested Nationalism.Lexington Books. p. 196.ISBN9781498537933.... of the debate is the left/liberal "peace movement" currently led by Japanese academics, including legal scholars, and more recently by students, but which until the end of the Cold War was spearheaded by the Japan Socialist Party.
^Tetsuya Kataoka, ed. (1992).Creating Single-party Democracy: Japan's Postwar Political System. Hoover Institution Press. p. 2.ISBN9780817991111.The constitution was defended by the JSP, the mainstay of kakushin (radical-liberal forces), ...
^Japan Almanac.Mainichi Newspapers. 1975. p. 43.In the House of Representatives, the Liberal-Democratic Party, guided by conservative liberalism, is the No.1 party holding a total of 279 seats or 56.8 per cent of the House quorum of 491.
^American Assembly; Willard Long Thorp, eds. (1964).Japan's School Curriculum for The 2020s: Politics, Policy, and Pedagogy. Prentice-Hall. p. 17.It is no accident that Japanese radical liberalism and democratic socialism were both closely connected in their beginnings with the Christian movement in Japan. The first Japanese Socialist Party was born in an Americansponsored Christian church in Tokyo, and the majority of its members were Christians with intimate American connections.
^Wm. Theodore De Bary; Carol Gluck; Arthur Tiedeman (2006).Sources of Japanese Tradition, Abridged: 1600 to 2000; Part 2: 1868 to 2000. Columbia University Press. p. 153.
^David Goldblatt; Richard Maidment; Jeremy Mitchell (2005).Governance in the Asia-Pacific. Columbia University Press. p. 58.
^Ozaki, Yukio. (2001).The Autobiography of Ozaki Yukio: The Struggle for Constitutional Government in Japan, translated by Marius B. Jansen (Princeton University Press, 2001), pp. 1–6.
^Mikhail Iosifovich Sladkovskiĭ (1975).China & Japan: Past and Present. Academic International Press. p. 261.Wakatsuki Reijiro, a liberal who was Prime Minister 1926-1927 and in 1931.
^Ben-Ami Shillony (2013).Ben-Ami Shillony. Taylor & Francis. p. 58.... liberal Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi who had been assassinated in 1932.
^Yoshida Shigeru: Last Meiji Man. Rowman & Littlefield. 2007. p. XI.Liberal Democratic Party, which succeeded Yoshida's original liberal organization
^JPRI Working Paper: Volume 49. University of California. 1998. p. 4.Ichiro Hatoyama regarded equality and liberalism as the ultimate values of mankind and strongly opposed both totalitarianism (Nazism) and communism (Stalinism).
^John Creighton Campbell, ed. (2014).How Policies Change: The Japanese Government and the Aging Society. Princeton University Press. p. 363.ISBN9781400862955.... Prime Minister Kishi, who leaned toward statecorporatist notions that included paternalistic welfare policy, gave way to Ikeda Hayato, who was more inclined toward free-market liberalism. ...
^Adam Bronson (2016).One Hundred Million Philosophers: Science of Thought and the Culture of Democracy in Postwar Japan. University of Hawaii Press. p. 56.Maruyama Masao, the left-liberal historian of political thought
^Austrian Foreign Policy Yearbook. Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 1993. p. 98.The new reform parties were successful, but the socialists lost almost half of their seats . a At the beginning of August the leader of the liberal Japan New Party, Morihiro Hosokawa, formed a new broadly - based coalition government ...