On the Eve of New Year, Almost Every Japanese Cleans his or her House.

Reading Passage Question

On the eve of New Year, almost every Japanese cleans his or her house. However, this year, the government is giving itself a special dusting down. Japan’s civil service is enduring its most thorough reform since the Americans occupied the country. Beneath a cloud of paper in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo’s bureaucratic district, whole ministries are vanishing, merging, or at the very least getting new names. In the current month, nearly $400m will be spent shifting 33,000 bureaucrats and their files. The result, say officials, will be a smaller government, stronger political leadership, and a bureaucracy ready to serve, not rule. Yet opinion polls suggest just one in five Japanese believes them.

The government is undeniably about to get smaller. Mergers will cut the number of ministries and agencies from 22 to 12. The politicians, meanwhile, get new jobs inside each ministry that are meant to give them more say in policymaking. Most important are new powers for the prime minister, who gets a strengthened Cabinet Office.

However, in practice, not all of these changes are likely to work exactly according to plan. For example, the Cabinet Office was supposed to secure a measure of independence by recruiting many of its staff from outside the civil service. But Japan’s rigid hiring practices have made this difficult. So almost all the important posts have been filled by the usual career bureaucrats.

Reforms to the bureaucracy, meanwhile, look a mixed bag at best. Having already lost its authority to regulate banks, the once-mighty Finance Ministry has ceded more ground. Under the Cabinet Office, a new body will now draft the outline of the national budget. The Finance Ministry looks like a softer target than the big spending ministries, with their well-organized networks of friendly politicians.

Other changes seem to run counter to the desired direction. For example, under the politicians’ original plan, drawn up in 1997, the power of the public-works bureaucracy was to be weakened by splitting the Construction Ministry in two. But, perversely, it has instead got bigger, merging with the Transport Ministry, the National Land Agency, and the Hokkaido Development Agency to create a monster that will control nearly 80% of public-works spending.

“On the eve of New Year, almost every Japanese cleans his or her house.” - is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 6 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

Question 1
Which of the following about the government of Japan is true?

1. the government is dusting the civil services offices and buildings.
2. before the American occupation, the government reforms of civil services had never happened in the history of Japan.
3. the government is winding up all of the ministries.
4. Kasumigaseki is the bureaucratic district of the government of Japan.
5. Small ministries will be merged into larger ministries.

Question 2
In the first paragraph, the word “special dusting” (Highlighted) is written most probably because

1. every Japanese will take part in the process of civil services reforms
2. civil services reforms of such a level had never happened in the history of Japan
3. the reforms are going to prove to be the perfect reforms for Japan
4. new powers for the prime minister are going to be strengthened.
5. since the American occupation, such thorough reforms had never happened in Japan.

Question 3
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

1. less than 25% of Japanese believe the reforms to be result oriented.
2. more than 15% of Japanese believe the reforms to be result oriented.
3. about 45% of ministries will be merged during the reforms.
4. practically the government will not get smaller
5. the new powers to the prime minister could affect reforms negatively.

Question 4

4. According to the government, the following will be the intended results of reforms

1. smaller government
2. better and stronger political leadership
3. A bureaucracy ready to serve and rule

1. I only
2. I and II only
3. I and III only
4. II and III only
5. I, II, and III

Question 5
All of the following can be inferred from the passage EXCEPT

1. the Finance Ministry will deal with the bigger financial projects after the civil reforms
2. According to the initial plans, the powers of the public-works bureaucracy were to be halved
3. the Finance Ministry was regulating the banks before civil reforms
4. A new regulatory authority will draft the outline of the national budget after civil reforms
5. some of the changes intended for civil reforms may not work as planned

Question 6
According to the passage, which of the following ministry or body will practically be changed the least after civil reforms?

1. the Finance Ministry
2. the Construction Ministry
3. the Cabinet Office
4. the Transport Ministry
5. the National Land Agency

Question 7
The primary purpose of the passage is:

1. to introduce reforms being made in the government of Japan.
2. to explain how the reforms in the government of Japan will make a difference.
3. to show that reforms at the national level might not work favorably.
4. to introduce the Japanese government reforms and reason why they are not going to meet the expectations.
5. to show how difficult it is for Japan to implement reforms at the national level.

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