Read the full essay here.
About the Author
Frank McNeil, who retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1987, lived in Japan for ten years and speaks Japanese. His research was sponsored by the Asia Foundation and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which published his essay “Japanese Politics: Decay or Reform?” (1993). Currently director of the Strategic Studies Group at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, Ambassador McNeil is at work on a book about democracy in Japan for Crown Publishing.