2001 Volume 1 Pages 108-126
On January 6, 2001, a new set of government ministries began operations. This drastic reorganization of the administrative machinery of the Japanese government, which halved the number of central government ministries and agencies, fulfilled a campaign pledge by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto during the 1996 general election. Soon after the election, he created and chaired the Administrative Reform Council. In December 1997, the Council submitted its final report on the reorganization of the central ministries to the Prime Minister. A bill based on this report was approved by the Diet in 1998.
The Obuchi cabinet, which succeeded the Hashimoto Cabinet in July 1998, prepared all of the bills necessary to implement the reorganization. All of these bills became law and went into effect at the start of the twenty-first century.
This article locates the reorganization of the central ministries, referred to here as the Hashimoto/Obuchi Administrative Reform, in the context of the history of Japanese administrative reform over the last half of the twentieth century, then analyzes several new items on the reform agenda for the twenty-first century.
The targets, approaches, and achievements of various reform proposals are examined in the development of administrative reform over the second half of the twentieth century, comparing the Hashimoto/Obuchi Administrative Reform, with the Rincho Administrative Reform based on the recommendations of the Second Provisional Commission on Administrative Reform (Rincho), which began in 1981 under the Suzuki Cabinet, and succeeded in privatizing public corporations such as the National Railways and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT).
Finally, problems with the Hashimoto/Obuchi reform that have emerged in recent Diet discussions are analyzed, and new items on the reform agenda that will be required in the twenty-first century are evaluated.
