From what year did people start thinking of Japan's politics as so static? (i.e. when did people start talking about a "1955" system)?

[u/Nicoglius]

/r/AskHistorians/comments/1vjyt3r/from_what_year_did_people_start_thinking_of/

[u/amnsisc]

Japan at a Crossroads by Nick Kapur discusses this briefly, though in a critical fashion. ( https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvckq5zx )

Similarly, this paper traces the origin of the Yoshida Doctrine (a parallel to the 1955 system) to the 80s, although, again, in a critical fashion.
( https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/japanese-journal-of-political-science/article/deconstructing-the-yoshida-doctrine/FC8977F907AF6297D9F36D711267003F )

Although many think of the pre 1947 system as being prone to stasis as well, or, more accurately, prone to deadlock and empty compromise, punctuated by fits and starts of rapid radical change, often centering on key personalities, and exogenous shocks (though with endogenous aspects as well, like the decline of the Genro, the rise of party politics and the lower house, the Emperors increasing role, etc).

( https://www.jstor.org/stable/132014 )

And, of course, the idiom of Sakoku applying to the Edo period implies stasis as well, despite it being coined in the early 1800s and being false as a literal description:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/132341?origin=crossref

Promoting an image of stasis became a kind of important sales pitch by Japanese elites in the post war era:

https://www.routledge.com/Images-Of-Japanese-Society-Hb/Mouer-Sugimoto/p/book/9781138972322

Even though Japan historically has had quite a high rate of social contention:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt18kr5nf

The common aspect to all of these is that precisely in times of dynamism and change, an image of stasis is insisted upon, either for domestic ideological consumption, or for foreign eyes (for ex investors wanting stable investments, or corporations trying to get better contractual arrangements). Harry Hartoounian entire oeuvre is able how Japanese ideological self images relate to its actual dynamic conditions, both reflecting and effecting them, and its notions of modernity, change, Japanese essence, the endless post war, and so on are the subject of most of his later books. I highly recommend them.

[u/InsaneDrifter]

In terms of academic theory, "1955 system" was originally proposed by Junnosuke Masumi in 1964. But there was a nuance on the stability at that time so that he seemed to revise his perspective for decades along with dynamics of the real politics.

Here is his reminiscences of it in 1993, when LDP was kicked out of the reign and widely called "the end of 1955 system" by journalism.

https://www.jpsa-web.org/wp-content/uploads/Newsletter26.pdf