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In order to pursue the contradictory goals of effective economic development and equal spatial distribution, the Japanese Developmental State (JDS) under the Liberal Democratic Party tried to strike a balance between concentrated growth in Tokyo and redistribution to the rest of Japan. However, in recent years government leaders have been de-emphasizing the balance and introducing state devolution and market-based policy choices. Meanwhile, mixing such neoliberalism-style measures with government activism, state leaders have endorsed redevelopment in Tokyo. These political developments exhibit marked resemblance to the neoliberal glocalization observed in Western Europe. Nevertheless, Japan's neoliberalization displays fundamental differences from that of Western experiences. This study investigates how Japan's recent neoliberalization has come to take shape. Findings indicate that Tokyo had an important effect on Japan's state rescaling, not by functioning as Japan's economic engine in the global economy, but by playing the political and symbolic center of the JDS. It indicates the persistence of the JDS's ideology and Tokyo's special position therein. Neoliberalism is now treated as a 'solution' to what is considered the cause of Japan's prolonged economic problems, but its introduction relied on the strength of the JDS's deep-seated values.
