This is a political biography of Japanese politician Matsuoka Toshikatsu, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) member in Japan's House of Representatives for Kumamoto No. 3 district. Mulgan (politics, U. of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, Australia) has chosen to conduct this "thick description" of Matsuoka's political life because he is in many ways paradigmatic of LDP politics in that he is strongly representative of special interest groups, has been implicated in a number of corruption scandals involving "money politics," is a fervent advocate for pork barrel projects for his constituency, and has operated within LDP's policy making process as a direct and indirect representative of the special interests central to his electoral support coalition. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation 2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
