Electoral Determinants of Agrarian Power: Measuring Rural Decline in Japan

The Japanese farm sector illustrates the key measures of rural electoral influence in advanced industrialized societies and the principal causes of decline in the electoral basis of agrarian power. The political impact of the farm vote is sensitive to wider social, economic and demographic changes as well as to restructuring processes in electoral, organizational and party-political systems. In Japan's case the agricultural electorate continues to shrink along with the electoral profile of rural and semi-rural constituencies and the number of farm politicians in the Diet, although the orientation of the ruling conservative party towards the rural sector is strengthening in relative terms. The disproportionate enfranchisement of farm voters will be further reduced by electoral reform, which will generate potential gains and losses for the farm sector.