This course introduces students to politics and political processes in contemporary Japan. How is the political system organized in Japan? What are the roles of bureaucrats, politicians, organized interest groups, and social activists in the policymaking process? The course is divided into five parts. We will begin with an examination of Japan’s political structure before 1993, when the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) dominated electoral politics. Then we will proceed to explore changes and/or continuation of Japan’s political structure after 1993 to the present. Finally, we will turn our attention to public policies such as industrial, labor, immigration, social welfare, women, agriculture, education, environment, and finance. The last part of this course attempts to illustrate that social and economic reality is a political construct and tries to identify important political actors in formulating each of these policies.