BUREAUCRACY AND POLITICS IN THE 1930'S: THE CAREER OF GOTO FUMIO (JAPAN)

Scholars of modern Japanese political history have tended to overlook the role of the bureaucracy and have focused instead on other elites, such as the oligarchs, the political parties, and the military. The bureaucracy commanded the organization and skills to affect domestic politics and society more than any other elite until the end of World War Two, and was an essential component of a shifting balance of power which also included the political parties and the military. The Home Ministry was the most powerful ministry in prewar Japan because it controlled local administration and the police. It was also the ministry from which emerged the first so-called "new bureaucrats" who became notorious in the 1930's for forming alliances with military men and bureaucrats from other ministries in their attempt to reform Japan.; Goto Fumio (1884-1980) stands out as one of the exceptional bureaucrats who rose from within the ranks of the Home Ministry to become home minister during the Okada Cabinet (July 1934-February 1936). He was also the first leader of the "new bureaucrats." Focusing on a single bureaucrat such as Goto makes it possible to examine the activities of the Home Ministry and the "new bureaucrats" despite the large-scale destruction of Home Ministry documents that occurred in the earthquake of 1923 and in 1945 before the arrival of the Occupation forces.; During the 1920's and 1930's the bureaucracy attempted to uphold the social order in Japan and defend its turf against intrusion from competing elite groups. Goto career illustrates how those perceived as "new bureaucrats" developed their goals in rebellion against the political parties and independently of the military during the 1920's. Ironically, their quest for freedom from the political parties led them to join in partnership with the military, the very elite which would pose the greatest threat to them during the war years. In the process, they modified the political role of the bureaucracy by reaching outside the normal structures of government to participate in extraministerial organizations which cut across ministry lines.