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 Japan is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary
government. The country's constitution was made on May 3, 1947 right when
the U.S. took control of Japan following World War II. Under the
constitution, Japan has "universal adult suffrage" with a secret ballot for
all elective offices. Which basically means that all legal adults in the
country can vote privately. Just like the U.S. their government is made up
of an executive branch responsible to the legislative branch and an
independent judicial branch. The national parliament, a.k.a "The Diet", is made up of (somewhat like the
U.S.) two houses: a House of Representatives (lower house) of 500 members
and a House of Councilors (upper house) of 252 members. Executive power is
given to a cabinet made up of a prime minister and ministers of state.
Although, all of those prime ministers and ministers of state have to be
civilians. The prime minister must be a member of "The Diet", usually in the
House of Representatives, and is chosen by his others in that house. The
prime minister has the power to appoint and remove ministers, and mostly all
have to be Diet members.
Japan's judicial system, which, again, is based off of the U.S. traditions,
consists of several levels of courts, and the Supreme Court is the "final
judicial authority" or the court that has the last word in any judicial
issue. The constitution includes a bill of rights similar to the United
States Bill of Rights, and the Supreme Court has the right of "judicial
review". Japanese courts do not employ a jury, and there are no
administrative courts or claims courts like we have in the U.S. Court
decisions are made with "legal statutes"; only Supreme Court decisions have
any direct effect on later issues of the law.
In the lower house of the Diet, 300 members are elected in single-member
districts and another 200 members are elected on equally in 11 regions of
the country. Lower house members serve for four years, or until the prime
minister changes the Diet, basically, whichever comes first. In the upper
house, 152 members are elected in regional districts, while 100 are elected
in nation-wide balloting. Upper house members serve for six years. The lower
house is the more powerful of the two parliamentary houses. If the upper and
lower houses can't agree on the choice of prime minister, the lower house
takes charge, and budgets and treaties can be passed only with action by the
lower house.
Japan is a multiparty democracy that has experienced great stability in the
postwar period. From 1955 until 1993, the conservative Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP) ruled Japan without interruption. During that period, the main
opposition party in the Diet was the Japan Socialist Party (JSP), which
relied heavily on Japan's labor unions for support, and which in recent
years has experienced a sharp decline in popularity.
In 1993, a multiparty "alliance" took control without the LDP. However, the
LDP was returned to power in June 1994 in an unpredictable "alliance" with
the JSP and a small party, the Sakigake. In January, 1995 the LDP reclaimed
the prime minister's chair, when Ryutaro Hashimoto replaced his JSP alliance
partner, Tomiichi Murayama. Currently the largest parties in the parliament
are the New Frontier Party and the Democratic Party of Japan, formed in
1996; all political parties except the Japan Communist Party (JCP) support
the security alliance between the United States and Japan.
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