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Despite current global trends towards diversification in policy responses to illegal drug use, including growing criticism of the War on Drugs, Japan continues to retain an ardently prohibitive approach. This article explains the reproduction of prohibitionist policies in Japan throughout the post-War period through use of the Multi-Centred Governance (MCG) thesis. This thesis acknowledges the facilitative power of exogenous shocks to the policy process, the causal power of particular policy actors, whilst also emphasising the importance of dispositional power, the rules of meaning and membership that integrate and bind policy actors into rival agendas of crime control, in maintaining policy agendas despite facilitative and agentic pressures for change. In these terms, the MCG provokes discussion of how alleged global trends in crime and control are mediated by a politics of risk and justice, constituted through the interplay of the facilitative, causal and dispositional circuits of power found in particular contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the concept of the "negotiated order" as developed by McAra and McVie to focus on the role and nature of the "family order" in shaping the initiation of methamphetamine use in Japan. Presenting empirical qualitative data from multiple life-story interviews with 11 men with a history of methamphetamine use, the findings demonstrate that while there were variegated paths that led to initiation of use, a common factor was family breakdown and exclusion. Given the "group-oriented" nature of social organization and relations in Japan and the risks emanating from marginalization from "insider" groups, understanding the importance of the ways in which the ascription and negotiation of identities within and around the family can lead to initiation in a severely stigmatized and criminalized activity in this cultural context provides useful lessons for thinking about formal and informal responses to illegal drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indications of the national prevalence of illegal drug use in Japan have largely been presented from two main sources: official police-recorded statistics and a national self-report survey. Their findings have been often used to support a representation of Japan as having relatively low levels of illegal drug use in comparison to other developed countries. However, the use and presentation of these sources has rarely considered in any meaningful way their nature and accuracy in revealing patterns of illegal drug use. As such, there is a tendency to uncritically accept and reproduce dominant patterns that may distort and disguise a more realistic understanding. This article critically examines these two sources, identifying a series of methodological issues that may contribute toward an underrepresentation of illegal drug use. In doing so, it also argues that a more critical social science–informed perspective may allow for these sources to be better utilized and situated within the cultural context in which they are produced and which they claim to represent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the development of illegal drug control in Japan. Focusing on the area of drug treatment, a theoretical explanation is offered for how and why a previously punitive configuration has shifted towards a more complex one including both inclusionary and exclusionary approaches. In doing so, it argues for theoretical engagement with the relations of power which structure political competition in the governance of illegal drug control. Using conceptual tools adopted from urban regime analysis, the article discusses the dispositions, resources, and schemes of co-operation that have shaped the development of drug treatment in Japan since the end of the Second World War. Contemporary manifestations of drug treatment are indicative of a disruption to a dominant 'penal-moral' regime and an ongoing transformation towards a 'medico-penal' regime. Contemporary illegal drug control in Japan, especially at a tertiary level, demonstrates both continuity and change from former approaches, with manifestations of policy exhibiting similarities as well as differences from other countries. In accounting for these patterns, conceptual frameworks centred around the political competition to govern problems of illegal drug use provides a useful way to explain how drug policy regimes become variegated across different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Empirical analysis of practitioner perspectives in Japan using Q method. • Identification of 3 groups: recovery supporters, moral guardians, crime bureaucrats. • Commonalities around the theme of 'autonomous drug-free lives'. • Competing interpretations about why this matters and the journey to this. • Conflicts may result in erosion of cooperation and differences in implementation. In Japan, responses to people with drug dependency problems and who frequently re-enter the criminal justice system have undergone significant change in recent years, resulting in a heavier emphasis placed on non-criminal justice interventions and greater diversification of practitioners. To better understand how different practitioners are negotiating and adapting to their changing environments, this paper examines the goals of practitioners who work with individuals who are on probation, parole or have received a suspended sentence for an illegal drug offence. Q methodology was utilised, with participation of 89 practitioners from across the fields of criminal justice, health, social welfare, and local government. Participants ranked 64 goals in drug policy according to their perceived importance in a Q-sort activity, before reflecting on their decision-making during a post-sort questionnaire. Principal components analysis was conducted, along with an iterative and holistic approach that considered the Q-sort and questionnaire data as a whole, to extract and interpret groups of practitioners that shared similar perspectives. Three groups of practitioner perspectives were identified, termed as recovery supporters, moral guardians , and crime bureaucrats. Overall, there are a number of commonalities which revolve around facilitating 'autonomous drug-free lives', but groups are distinguished in important ways, not least in terms of goals relating to the nature and role of criminal justice and treatment services. Although the notion of 'autonomous drug-free lives' binds together different perspectives, there are competing interpretations about why this matters and the preferred 'journey' to this social state. These findings show that the embracing of more welfare and health-based approaches in drug policy in Japan is also being largely reflected in practitioner perspectives, but the conflicts that exist have the potential to erode multi-agency co-operation and lead to variation in policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2008, India and Japan made a joint security declaration while asserting that a strategic partnership between the two countries would become an essential pillar for the future architecture of the region. This article examines whether the security declaration is a step toward building an enduring security partnership. It will consider perceptions in Japan and India of the bilateral security relationship, proposals for how to give it substance, and key issues that may impede the deepening of the relationship. This article will conclude that although there is no clear consensus as to the substance of the relationship, the relationship between India and Japan is likely to grow in coming years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]