The governance of national art museums in Japan: The impact of the Independent Administrative Institution law

In 2001, Japan's national art museums, which had been directly run by the nation, became an Independent Administrative Institution-National Art Museums (the IAI-NAM) in conformity with a large-scale governmental administrative reform. This thesis examines the impact of this shift and the IAI-NAM Law that defines the governance of these national art museums. The IAI-NAM seeks to establish a new model of hybrid governance in public-private partnership in order to respond the increasing public expectations in Japanese society. This thesis studies changes brought by the IAI-NAM Law and conducts a comparative study of the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in order to draw lessons from American experiences of hybrid governance. The thesis offers comments of Japanese academics and museum directors on the changes taking place at Japanese museums, and provides a discussion of the long-term impact of the IAI-NAM governance system.