In Japan during the Meiji Period(1868-1912), the Freedom and People's Right Movement arose calling for the enactment of a constitution and the establishment of the Diet, and in 1889 the Constitution of the Empire of Japan was enacted. However, sovereignty in this constitution rested with the Emperor, so it was not a modern constitution respecting human rights. The present Constitution of Japan was enacted at the request of the United States in 1946 immediately after Japan lost the war. Sovereignty rested with the people, its chief characteristics being the Emperor as symbol, by which the Emperor stands as a symbol of the nation of Japan, and permanent pacifism, which does not approve maintaining an army or the right of the nation to wage war. However, the constitution is conveniently interpreted depending on political conditions, and in fact it contains the contradiction of having military forces called the Self-Defense Forces; there is an emerging movement to take another look at the constitution itself.
The system of sanken-bunritsu, which is calculated to prevent the abuse of power by dividing the power of the State into legislative, judicial and administrative functions and allowing mutual checks, has also been adopted in Japan. This is not only true in the existing Constitution of Japan; the three powers were also divided in the Constitution of the Imperial Japan of the Meiji Period(1868-1912). However, it was imperfect, because the administrative branch had some judicial power and the sovereignty of the Emperor was established above the three powers.
The form of sanken-bunritsu has very strict U.S. forms and comparatively loose U.K. forms, but because Japan has taken the parliamentary system of government, similar to the system in U.K., its sanken-bunritsu system is not as strict as in U.S..
Naikaku is in charge of all aspects of administering the country. Its principal work involves domestic affairs, diplomacy, concluding treaties, drafting legislative proposals and budgets, and appointing the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
In Japan, adopting the parliamentary system, the Diet designates the prime minister from within its members, and the prime minister appoints the other State ministers. Among the State ministers, limited to 20 or less in number, the majority must be Diet members.
The House of Representatives can present non-confidence motion in the Cabinet, and, if this passes, naikaku resigns en masse or the House of Representatives is dissolved and the issue is put to the will of the people.
ΰt Cabinet εb Prime Minister * Deputy Prime Minister*
O±εb Minister of Foreign Affairs @±εb Minister of Justice ε εb
Minister of Finance Άεb Minister of Education ϊΆεb Minister of
Health and Welfare _Ρ
Yεb Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Κ€YΖεb Minister of International Trade and Industry ^Aεb Minister
of Transport Xεb Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Jεb
Minister of Labor έεb Minister of Construction ©‘εb Minister of
Home Affairs ―[·― Chief Cabinet Secretary ±‘·― Director General
of the Management and Coordination Agency kCΉE«κJ‘·― Director
General of the Hokkaido/Okinawa Development Agency hq‘·― Director
General of the Defense Agency oΟιζ‘·― Director General of the Economic
Planning Agency ΘwZp‘·― Director General of the Science and Technology
Agency Β«‘·― Director General of the Environment Agency y‘·―
Director General of the National Land Agency FKvΙΆΔέu @Note
: Set up at need πγΰt List of Cabinets(since 1945) ©‘Θ/Ministry
of Home Affairs vη Higashikuni 8/17/1945` Ό΄ Shidehara 10/9/1945`
gc Yoshida 5/22/1946` ΠR Katayama 5/24/1947` °c Ashida 3/10/1948`
gc Yoshida 10/15/1948` ΅R Hatoyama 12/10/1954` Ξ΄ Ishibashi 12/23/1956`
έ Kishi 2/25/1957` rc Ikeda 7/19/1960` ²‘ Sato 11/9/1964` c
Tanaka 7/7/1972` OΨ Miki 12/9/1974` c Fukuda 12/24/1976` ε½ Ohira
2/7/1978` ιΨ Suzuki 7/17/1980` ]ͺ Nakasone@1/27/1982` |Ί Takeshita
11/6/1987` Fμ Uno 6/3/1989` C Kaifu 8/10/1989` {ς Miyazawa 11/5/1991`
Χμ Hosokawa 8/9/1993`
Kokkai consists of two chambers, the House of Representatives and House of Councillors, and is the highest organ of state and the only legislative one. Because Japan adopts the parliamentary system of government, kokkai designates the prime minister. Also, it deliberate and decide the national budget prepared by the Cabinet.
The members of both houses are elected by direct vote of the people. Their terms of service are four years for representatives and six for councillors. In the House of Councillors, half the members are elected every three years.
The House of Representatives has a shorter term of service and can be dissolved; hence, regarded as more strongly reflecting the will of the people, it has more authority than the House of Councillors.
In the Meiji Period(1868-1912), the right to vote was granted only to adult men above the age of 25 who paid more than the fixed amount of tax. In 1925, the Universal Manhood Suffrage Law was enacted granting the right to vote to all adult males, but the right to vote for women was legalized only after the Second World War. At present, universal suffrage is guaranteed by the constitution for all adults from the age of 20; eligibility to stand for election, according to the Public Office Election Law, is granted to those over 30 to be members of the House of Councillors and to be a prefectural governor, and to those over 25 for all other offices.
In recent years, instances of corruption have piled up and the people's distrust of politics has heightened; consequently, the election system has been reformed from medium-size constituency system to small one to make for easier transitions of political power.
From 1955 to 1993, Japanese politics were dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party. During that time, with the policy of high economic growth, Japan stood up from the postwar devastation and achieved a miraculous recovery. Meanwhile, one party had been monopolizing political power, creating a giver-receiver relationship between the political, bureaucratic and financial worlds, and corruption became rampant.
In 1993, when the people's criticism against this strengthened, the Japan New Party, which had split from the Liberal Democratic Party, and other opposition parties formed an alliance, won an election, and organized a coalition cabinet. Under this Cabinet, political reform, consisting of reform of electoral system and regulation of political contributions, was put into effect. Such actions are corresponding to the vigorously changing situation of the cold war ending and the world grouping for a new order.