Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the political underrepresentation of people with disabilities in the Japanese Diet and the conditions that allow their participation in the parliament.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the political underrepresentation of people with disabilities in the Japanese Diet and the conditions that allow their participation in the parliament. The paper addresses the following three research questions: 1) how are people with disabilities represented in contemporary Japan and the EU member states, and what are the differences between them?; 2) why have people with disabilities been underrepresented in Japan?; and 3) how do candidates with disabilities but with no typical political career become members of the Diet? This paper further discusses the electoral system, political parties’ attitudes toward people with disabilities, social and community participation of people with disabilities, and political culture as factors that affect minority groups’ participation in the Japanese parliament. The analysis revealed the following: 1) a comparison with EU member states showed that the underrepresentation of people with disabilities in parliamentary bodies is a common issue; 2) people with disabilities are less involved in traditional political communities and the society in general, which hampers their participation in the parliament. It was also observed that a negative political culture toward the political participation of people with disabilities might also lead to their underrepresentation; and 3) in the immediate post-war period, disabled Diet members were mainly wounded people with typical political careers, but especially from 1990s onwards, disabled people who did not have typical political careers became Diet members. Moreover, the proportional electoral system and political parties’ commitment to include candidates with disabilities, for example, their favorable treatment on the proportional list, use of specific quotas such as the Tokutei-waku, campaign finance and campaign assistance, and reasonable accommodation during election campaign that takes their physical and mental condition into account, facilitate their participation in the parliament.