Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

Do the Collectivist Legacy of Long-standing Clan-based Governance Still Influence Local Politics in Japan? A Quantitative Study

Zihe GaoUniversity of Michigan*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

Historically, Japan’s clan-based governance has a lasting impact on its domestic politics. Whether these legacies continue to shape contemporary local politics, however, remains a topic of heated debate in current internet forums and academic circles. To contribute to this discussion, this study conducts a quantitative analysis based on cross-sectional data from all 47 prefectures in Japan, investigating whether the collectivist legacy of clan-based governance continues to shape political representation at the local level today. The analysis focuses on the relationship between the density of neighborhood associations (chōnaikai), regarded as a legacy of local clan governance, and the differences in local party representation between municipal and prefectural assemblies. To address potential endogeneity, earthquake frequency is employed as an instrumental variable, while a regional dummy for western Japan is introduced to control for cultural variation. The second-stage regression results reveal that chōnaikai density does not significantly predict differences in local party representation, suggesting that the influence of traditional localism in contemporary electoral outcomes has weakened. Although the explanatory power of the model is constrained by limited sample size and the absence of key control variables, the findings nonetheless provide new empirical evidence supporting the view that Japan’s historical system of clan-based governance has little effect on contemporary local politics.

Keywords: Local Politics; Japanese Studies; Political Representation; Japanese Clans
Published: October 28, 2025
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2025.NE28703
Volume: CHR Vol.87
pp. 127-136
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