One of the unsurprising but disturbing results of my enquiry into neoliberalism in Japan is the way the so-called ‘progressive’ side of politics has embraced the main tenets of neoliberalism. For a Westerner, Japanese politics is somewhat confounding and to understand what is going on, one must abandon the typical Left=Progressive/Right=Conservative dichotomy. In Japan, the conservative Liberal Democratic Party looks like a conservative party in most ways except for its approach to economic policy. Similarly, the opposition parties are quite often the ones espousing ‘market-based’ economic policies, while also aspiring to be like any progressive party anywhere on social issues. The discussion today is about why the progressives act in this way and it goes to the heart of the tension between the traditional cultural norms and a desire to be free of them. This is Part 3 in the series on this topic.