Campaign

PBS Premiere: July 29, 2008Check the broadcast schedule »

Links & Books

FILM-RELATED WEBSITES

Filmmaker's Website: Laboratory X
Kazuhiro Soda's website provides additional information about Campaign, including more images from the film, information on his past and current projects and a link to his blog, which is written in both Japanese and English.

Why Democracy: Campaign: The Kawasaki Candidate
In October 2007, as part of the "Why Democracy" project, more than 40 international broadcasters aired 10 one-hour films made by award-winning independent filmmakers from different countries. This site provides an international context for Campaign and offers a discussion board and blog on democracy in the global arena.

Midnight Eye interview: Kazuhiro Soda
Filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda talks about Campaign on the film festival circuit, his favorite filmmakers and more.

Japan and Japanese Politics

BBC News: County Profile: Japan
This comprehensive resource from the British Broadcasting Corporation offers a profile of the nation that has the world's second-largest economy, including facts about its politics and government.

Essay: Elections in Japan -- A Comparison with the United States
This website, from Columbia University's East Asian Studies Department, explains some of the differences between the
American and Japanese political system, including aspects that may be strange to viewers, such as the Kôenkai (personal support groups).

Japanese Politics Overview
This website, hosted by Mizuho Securities, a Japanese bank, offers a comprehensive source of links and resources on Japan's system of government and its constitution, major political parties and politicians. (in English)

National Diet Library: Birth of the Constitution of Japan
This online exhibit from the Japanese National Diet Library presents an outline of major events of Japanese history and many of the important documents involved in the framing and enactment of Japan's constitution.

Liberal Democratic Party
The official website of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party provides an organizational chart of who's who in the party, as well as an historical overview of the party.

Time Magazine: Junichiro Koizumi
In May 2006, Junichiro Koizumi, prime minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006, was named one of Time Magazine's "100 People Who Shape Our World" for his maverick style and his efforts to bring reform to Japanese politics. (April 30, 2006)

The Japan Times Online: Politics at the Grass Roots
In Campaign, Yamauchi's wife Sayuri learns first-hand the difficulties of being a politician's wife, a role held by the American subject of this article, which also explains aspects of Japanese politics that Americans might find strange.(December 10, 2006)

The New York Times: Veteran Lawmaker Chosen as Japan's Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister seen in Campaign, has already been replaced -- twice. This New York Times article heralding the newest prime minister explores Japanese politics post-Campaign. (September 24, 2007)

Asia Sentinel: Japan's Democracy Comes of Age
The last few years have been very exciting in Japanese politics, as the Liberal Democrats (who ran Yamauchi's campaign in Campaign) have taken the first blows to their authority in half a century. Find out more in this article from the Asia Sentinel. (August 8, 2007)

Books by Gerald L. Curtis:

Gerald L. Curtis is Burgess Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and the former director of the East Asian Institute. He is the author of The Japanese Way of Politics and The Logic of Japanese Politics, both published by Columbia University Press. In 2004 Professor Curtis was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star by the Emperor of Japan. Professor Curtis is a member of the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the board of directors of the U.S-.Japan Foundation and also serves as advisor to numerous public and private organizations in the United States and Japan.

Election Campaigning, Japanese Style
This book analyzes different Japanese campaigning methods as well as offers an overview on Japan's general campaigning culture. In Election Campaigning Japanese Style, Curtis closely examines the campaign of Sato Bunsei, a non-incumbent candidate of the ruling Liberal Demoratic Party (LDP), as he runs for a seat on the Japanese Diet. Read an excerpt. (1971, new edition: 2008)

The Logic of Japanese Politics
Curtis examines the Japanese political machine after the crash of the Japanese economy in the 1990s. The book offers a concise and analytical look into the often-convoluted culture of Japanese politics and the institutions that drive it. (2000)

The Japanese Way of Politics
This landmark book details Japan's nuanced political system and challenges notions about Japan's economic and political conformity. Curtis also takes a deeper look at the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the party behind Yamauchi's political ambition in Campaign. (1988)

Women in the Japanese Workforce
The New York Times: "Career Women in Japan Find a Blocked Path"
Japan passed an equal opportunity law in 1985, promising women protection against discrimination in vocation, fringe benefits, retirement and dismissal and urging employers to treat women equally with men in regard to recruitment, training and promotion. But more than 20 years later, experts say discrimination against women is still the norm. (August 6, 2007)

Books

Globalisation and Women in the Japanese Workforce by Beverly Bishop
As the influence of the Western world continues to grow within Japan, women find themselves caught between a society that encourages them to maintain tradition and the urge to modernize. Bishop examines the impact of globalization upon women in the Japanese workforce. (2004)

Kimono in the Boardroom: The Invisible Evolution of Japanese Women Managersby Jean R. Renshaw
In Campaign, Kazuhiko Yamauchi's wife, Sayuri, is a proud career woman who bristles at the idea of having to give up her job to support her husband's campaign. This book examines the growing number of female managers in Japanese companies and investigates some of the barriers that women face. (1999)

Also on PBS and NPR

PBS.org Websites

Nightly Business Report: Who Can Follow Koizumi?
As Junichiro Koizumi prepared to step down as Japan's prime minster in the summer of 2006, the Nightly Business Report gathered a roundtable of experts to discuss Koizumi's legacy and to speculate on the future of Japan's politics and economy in his wake.
(July 6, 2006)

Nightly Business Report: Japanese Women on the Web
This lesson plan from the Nightly Business Report provides an overview of traditional gender roles and how they are shifting in the world's second-largest economy. (January 9, 2006)

NPR Stories

Morning Edition: Japan's New Leader Seeks to Revive Public Trust
Japan's newly confirmed prime minister Yasuo Fukada has quickly made it clear that his ruling Liberal Democratic Party is facing a crisis of public trust unprecedented in more than a half-century in power. (September 26, 2007)

NPR.org: Election Defeat Derails Japan's Ruling Party Agenda
In the years since Campaign was filmed, Yamauchi's party, the Liberal Democrats, has fallen on harder times after the tenure of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ended. This provides a short background of what had happened through July 2007. (July 30, 2007)