Was the japanese state "apolitical"?

During the American occupation, the U.S. kept much of the Japanese bureaucracy from before the war ended. So that after the occupation ended in 1952, Japanese politics retained a major characteristic of prewar politics: the central importance of the bureaucracy, instead of the elected branches of the government. Even the elective part of the government was more issue than ideology oriented. After 1955, the middle class oriented Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) formed the majority party in the Japanese diet, and has almost been unchallenged except for a brief period in 1989 until now. The diet members, especially factions of the LDP, which were the major contenders against one another, could not find much ideological differences between themselves, therefore they have focused on catering to their constituents' demands, e.g. building them airports, dams and highways that they do not need in return for votes. In contrast to the Meiji political structure where the emperor was at the center of politics, with everyone ultimately reporting to the emperor, and politics largely controlled in the hands of the elite, in postwar Japanese politics politicians play a huge role. Although grassroots politics remains underdeveloped, the new postwar politics has focused on inclusion and pushing and pulling of diverse groups. This new politics sees the submission of bills to the diet, then diet negotiations with the ruling party. There were moments in postwar Japan when politics did get political. Under Prime Minister Yoshida (prime minister five times between 1946 and 1954), there was the end to American occupation and the strengthening of central power. But more politicians wanted bargaining so that their constituents were satisfied. The Yoshida government was more pro-management than the workers. After Yoshida, the Ikeda (r.1960-64) govt adopted inclusion to deal with opposition, different from Yoshida’s exclusion. The practice of inclusion continued into the 1970s. The politics of inclusion was not real grassroots democracy, however; it was rather issue oriented politics to satisfy particular demands of the clients, and incentives to certain measures of reconciliation between workers and management, e.g. encouraging big companies to adopt lifetime employment in return for low wages and employees' abandonment of strikes. Following the 1976-8 international crises, including the sudden hike of oil prices by the Organization of Petroleum Export Countries in 1973 and the Iranian Revolution by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1978, Prime Minister Nakasone (r.1982-87) relied more on urban coalition that wanted small govt and greater internationalization. So, conflict between those for big govt and for small govt. But that episode of political government also ended quickly with Nakasone's resignation over an economic scandal in 1987.