Online Session 1

Why do we need to compare politics? Why study Japan politics?

It is necessary to compare politics because in doing so, we can explain how the political system of a particular country operates and what makes their politics diverse from other countries. And through the comparisons made, we can exhaust new ideas about the political world. Comparing countries will also simplify politics by categorizing them according to the similarities and differences of the countries’ characteristics. Furthermore, comparison of countries contributes to a more robust theory of politics by eliminating unnecessary explanations gathered and analyzing the remaining explanations. And finally, comparing countries will help supply logical generalizations for comparativists to come up with predictions of a country’s future politics.

Japan politics is striking. It has a deeper image of what other observers (including myself) usually see. In studying Japan politics, people will realize its depth, what makes their politics succeed and observers will discover the changes that took place over the past years until the present. Learning about Japanese politics will also help understand why and how Japan emerged from their past political crises.