Structure of Trust in Government and Public Administration in Japan

This chapter examines the structure of government trust and administrative trust in Japan. First, the level of trust in government and public administration in Japan will be located based on an international comparison. Second, the independent variables that determine the level of trust in government and public administration will be examined. The relationship between factors such as perceptions of policy performance, trust-building factors (professional ethics, sense of fairness, etc.), and citizen factors (social participation, media contact, life satisfaction, etc.) and trust will be explored. Third, the varying degrees of trust in the state and local governments and the factors that contribute to this will be reviewed. In addition, the recent shift in the performance goals of government and public administration (from economic growth to distribution, and emphasis on life satisfaction, etc.) and the possible impacts of such shift on trust in government and public administration will be explored.