Back to Basics?

Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi (1957–60) is credited with being the father of the LDP and, also, the king-pin of the 1955 political system that was based on the collaboration between politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats and banked with huge sums from the private sector. The LDP controlled the National Diet for thirty-eight years until 1993 and from 1996–2009. Abe’s LDP roots and his right-wing political ideology are inherited from his grandfather, the late Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, whom he extols in his book Toward a Beautiful Country, published shortly after he entered the executive office in 2006. Now that the LDP once again holds the majority of seats in the National Diet, it is likely that the ‘1955 political system’ will continue. With the exception of a three-year break, from 1993–6, and a five-year break, from 2009–13, the LDP has dominated Japanese politics since 1955, hence the term ‘1955 political system’.