Civil service of Japan

Composition As of 2018, there are approximately 3.33 million civil servants in Japan. Among these, the vast majority of around 2.74 million are local civil servants () working for local governments and agencies. Among kachō level () positions, 87.2% were recruited by Level I examination. The elite civil servants' power was especially strong in the years of rapid economic growth, before the 1990s. Several hundred of the elite are employed at each national ministry or agency. The University of Tokyo law faculty is the single most important source of elite bureaucrats. falsified documents, obvious lies to parliament and misplaced military records. Of 8,461 civil servants hired in the career-track, general, and specialized positions, 3,117 were women. In the percentage of women hired is 1.4% higher than in 2019. By type of positions, 35.4% of new hires in career-track positions were women, compared to 39.1% in general positions, and 33.8% in specialist work. As late as 2014, the percentage of women in new hires was 20–25%, before a jump to 30% in 2015 and further increases since 2017. The increase in 2015 was accredited to the Cabinet's Fourth Basic Plan for Gender Equality, which set a goal of 30% for new hires in the civil service. From 1990 to 2003, around 10% to 15% of new civil service recruits each year were women. ==History==

Japan before World War II The Japanese had been exposed to bureaucratic institutions at least by the early seventh century A.D. (Nara period), when the imperial court adopted the laws and government structure of Tang China. Japan post was split into three companies in 2007, intending to be privatized by 2017. Koizumi also reformed Independent Administrative Institution staff as privatized officers, which reduced half of the civil service. Japan post employed 280,000 people, or one-third of civil servants. However, as of 2020, the government still holds 57% of shares, and March 2028 was announced as the target date of privatization. In the 2009 general election, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) came to power after many years of Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) government. DPJ set up the policy of “leadership by politics”, criticized the initiative of bureaucracy in the era of LDP, and planned to reform civil service. However, the DPJ was defeated in the 2012 general election, and the LDP regained power. In 2014, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo again reduced bureaucratic autonomy by centralizing the appointment of all senior civil servants in the Cabinet Office. ==See also==