12
Besides the official campaign period, politicians in Japan file reports each year for
their multiple campaign organizations. As defined by the current campaign finance laws,
there are three main types of campaign organizations subject to yearly disclosures on how
much money has been raised and spent: the local party branch, fund agent and support
groups. Under the new regulations, donors are no longer allowed to make “direct”
contributions to individual politicians but instead must give money to the political party
or to the local political party branch headed by the party’s nominated SMD candidate.
Politicians are thus able to receive this subsidy and other funds by formally registering a
local party branch office in their electoral district.
10
In Table 1, I summarize the main characteristics and relevant campaign finance
regulations for the party branch and for the remaining organizations: the fund agent and
support groups. Following British practice, candidates establish one main “agent” to
manage their election funds, with set limits for corporations (¥500,000/$4,700) and
individuals (¥1,500,000/$14,000).
11
Finally, candidates are permitted to establish an
unlimited number of support groups or koenkai.
12
To keep their koenkai strong, politicians
spend considerable amounts of time and money to hold regular meetings, attend funerals
and weddings, and to organize sightseeing trips to hot springs.
10
Because of the subsidy and the fact that party branches are the central district office for most politicians,
one could hypothesize that the effect of own and rival party branch expenditures on vote shares may be
comparatively stronger than the remaining two organizations.
11
In Japan’s previous electoral system, politicians created multiple groups explicitly for the purpose of
raising funds and to avoid disclosing the names of their donors. By limiting politicians to one fund agent
and strengthening the previous campaign finance laws, the 1994 political reform legislation aimed at
making the disclosure process more transparent.
12
According to Curtis (1971:128), the koenkai refers to “the use of a mass-membership organization with
the function of organizing large members of the general electorate on behalf of a particular Diet candidate.”
Convention