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KOMEITO: Politics and Religion in Japan. Japan Research Monograph 18. Edited by George Ehrhardt, Axel Klein, Levi McLaughlin and Steven R. Reed. Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 2014. 298 pp. US$25.00, paper. ISBN978-1-55729-111-0.
The first chapter in Komeito: Politics and Religion in Japan is written by the editors of the volume, and its title, "Kömeitö: The Most Understudied Party of Japanese Politics," makes the main purpose of their project clear from the start. The editors, along with five other contributors, have filled a void in the study ofJapanese politics and religion that has been long neglected, and have provided the field with an essential study of the fifty-year collaboration between the twentieth-century Buddhist sect, Söka Gakkai (tiJÍI^é), and its political offshoot, Kömeitö (äWä). In addition to providing a detailed investigation of the party's founding and historical evolution, as well as its electioneering operations, funding, and political coalitions, the writers were also motivated to counteract the predominance of slanderous representations of Kömeitö from Japanese news media and contentious former associates of the party who are primarily concerned with settling scores. By presenting a thorough up-to-date study based in data-driven evidence and operational observations, the collaborators in this volume have provided a much-needed objective source for serious researchers.
The chapters are divided into four areas, including context, history, structure, and strategies of power. The first chapter, "Religious Groups in Japanese Electoral Politics," shows that while there is little evidence to suggest religion-based parties in...