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Paper short abstract

Amid moves towards the automation of human labour and the workplace, disconnection and a lack of institutional complementarity have ensured that no coherent mode of digital regulation has been produced so far in Japan.

Paper long abstract

Discussions on advanced automation and its benefits have intensified within the business, political and academic communities. Amid moves towards the automation of human labour and the workplace, questions are increasingly asked regarding how the government navigates digitalisation, and how digitalisation affects employment relations in each national context. This paper evaluates the degree to which digitalisation has prompted the emergence of a new (digital) regime of capitalist accumulation in the Japanese context. We argue that digitalisation-oriented institutions, namely a new mode of digital regulation, that includes the state, business and unions, have failed to emerge. Disconnection and a lack of institutional complementarity have ensured that no coherent mode of digital regulation has been produced so far, and, we argue, is not likely to emerge in the foreseeable future.