Evaluating administrative reform: an insiders report

Editor's Note. In this report, Professor Masujima provides an insider's look at the issues and trends involved in the past two decades of administrative reform in Japan. Born in Tokyo in 1936, Masujima graduated from the Tokyo University Law Department in 1959, entering the Administrative Management Agency (Gybsei Kan'richo, later Sbmuch) in the same year He moved up through the ranks of the civil service and was appointed Director-General of the Administrative Management Bureau in 1990. He served in this capacity through 1993, and thus was directly responsible for administrative reform under the Kaifu, Hosokawa, Hata and Murayama administrations. His long and distinguished career in the government makes him uniquely placed to tell this story, which serves as the backdrop for more theoretical articles in this special issue. As Director-General, Masujima was in charge of the secretariat for The Provisional Council for Promotion of Administrative Reform during both its deliberative and much of its implementation stages. He has been directly involved in administrative reform at the highest level longer than any other Japanese public servant.