Politics of Japan - Wikipedia 2019/05/28 1825 Politics of Japan The politics of Japan are conducted in a framework of a multi-party bicameral parliamentary representative democratic Politics of Japan constitutional monarchy whereby the Emperor is the ceremonial head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government and the head of the Cabinet, which directs the executive branch. 日本の政治 Legislative power is vested in the National Diet, which consists of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors. Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and lower courts, and sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people by the Constitution. Japan is considered a constitutional monarchy with a system of civil law. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Japan as a "flawed democracy" in 2016.[1] Government Seal of Japan State type Unitary parliamentary Contents constitutional Government monarchy Political parties and elections Constitution Constitution of Policy making Japan Policy development in Japan Legislative branch Post-war political developments in Japan Name National Diet Political developments since 1990 Type Bicameral Political developments since 2000 Meeting National Diet Political developments since 2010 place Building Foreign relations Upper house See also Name House of References Councillors Further reading Presiding Chuichi Date External links officer President of the House of Government Councillors Lower house The Constitution of Japan defines the Emperor[2] to be "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people". He performs Name House of ceremonial duties and holds no real power. Political power is held mainly by the Prime Minister and other elected members Representatives of the Diet. The Imperial Throne is succeeded by a member of the Imperial House as designated by the Imperial Household Law. Presiding Tadamori Oshima officer Speaker of the The chief of the executive branch, the Prime Minister, is appointed by the Emperor as directed by the Diet. He is a member House of of either house of the Diet and must be a civilian. The Cabinet members are nominated by the Prime Minister, and are also Representatives required to be civilian. With the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in power, it has been convention that the President of the Executive branch party serves as the Prime Minister. Head of State Political parties and elections Title Emperor Currently Naruhito Several political parties exist in Japan, however, the politics of Japan have primarily been dominated by the LDP since 1955, Appointer Hereditary with the DPJ playing an important role as opposition several times. LDP was a ruling party during decades since 1955. Despite the existence of multiple parties, other parties were completely ignored. Most of the prime ministers were elected Head of Government from inner factions of the LDP. Title Prime Minister Currently Shinzō Abe Appointer Emperor (Nominated by National Diet) Cabinet Name Cabinet of Japan Current Fourth Abe Cabinet cabinet Leader Prime Minister Appointer Prime Minister https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Japan Page 1 of 10 Politics of Japan - Wikipedia 2019/05/28 1825 Headquarters Kantei Judicial branch Name Judiciary Supreme Court Chief judge Naoto Ōtani Seat Supreme Court Building The National Diet Building in Tokyo The Imperial Palace in Tokyo is the primary residence of the Emperor. House of Representatives Election in 2005 House of Councillors election in 2007 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Japan Page 2 of 10 Politics of Japan - Wikipedia 2019/05/28 1825 Summary of the 30 August 2009 Japanese House of Representatives election results[3][4][5][6] Local constituency vote PR block vote +/− Total Alliances and parties (last (pre- Votes[7] % Seats Votes % Seats seats gen. election) election) Democratic Party (DPJ) 33,475,335 47.43% 221 29,844,799 42.41% 87 308 193 195 Social Democratic Party (SDP)[8] 1,376,739 1.95% 3 3,006,160 4.27% 4 7 0 0 People's New Party (PNP) 730,570 1.04% 3 1,219,767 1.73% 0 3 1 1 New Party Nippon[9] 220,223 0.31% 1 528,171 0.75% 0 1 1 0 New Party Daichi no district candidates 433,122 0.62% 1 1 0 0 Ruling DPJ–SDP–PNP coalition & 35,802,866 50.73% 228 35,032,019 49.78% 92 320 193 194 parliamentary allies Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) 27,301,982 38.68% 64 18,810,217 26.73% 55 119 181 177 New Komeito Party (NKP) 782,984 1.11% 0 8,054,007 11.45% 21 21 10 10 Japan Renaissance Party 36,650 0.05% 0 58,141 0.08% 0 0 1 0 Opposition LDP–NKP coalition & 28,121,613 39.84% 64 26,922,365 38.26% 76 140 192 187 parliamentary allies Japanese Communist Party (JCP) 2,978,354 4.22% 0 4,943,886 7.03% 9 9 0 0 Your Party (YP) 615,244 0.87% 2 3,005,199 4.27% 3 5 1 5 Others 1,077,543 1.53% 0 466,786[10] 0.66% 0 0 0 0 Independents[11] 1,986,056 2.81% 6 – 6 0 12 Totals 70,581,680 100.00% 300 70,370,255 100.00% 180 480 2* 0 Turnout 69.28% 69.27% *(vacant seats) Summary of the 11 July 2010 Japanese House of Councillors election results[12] Prefectural constituency vote National PR vote Seats Alliances and Elected Total +/ +/ +/ not parties in 2010 seats [13] Votes % Seats − Votes % Seats − up − [13] [13] Democratic Party (DPJ) Minshutō – 22,756,000.342 38.97% 28 8 18,450,139.059 31.56% 16 2 44 62 106 10 People's New Party (PNP) Kokuminshintō – 167,555 0.29% 0 2 1,000,036.492 1.71% 0 1 0 3 3 3 New Party Nippon (NPN) [14] Shintō Nippon – no candidate 0 1 1 0 DPJ–PNP 22,923,555.342 39.25% 28 19,450,175.551 33.27% 16 3 44 66 110 13 Coalition 10 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) 19,496,083 33.38% 39 14,071,671.422 24.07% 12 1 51 33 84 13 Jiyū-Minshutō - 14 : Jimintō – New Komeito Party (NKP) Kōmeitō – 2,265,818 3.88% 3 0 7,639,432.739 13.07% 6 2 9 10 19 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Japan Page 3 of 10 Politics of Japan - Wikipedia 2019/05/28 1825 New Renaissance Party (NRP) 625,431 1.07% 0 3 1,172,395.190 2.01% 1 1 1 1 2 4 Shintō Kaikaku – LDP–NKP— NRP Coalition 22,387,332 38.33% 42 22,883,529.351 39.15% 19 4 61 44 105 7 11 (Opposition) Your Party (YP) Minna no Tō – 5,977,391.485 10.24% 3 3 7,943,649.369 13.59% 7 7 10 1 11 10 Japanese Communist Party (JCP) 4,256,400 7.29% 0 0 3,563,556.590 6.10% 3 1 3 3 6 1 Kyōsantō – Social Democratic Party (SDP) 602,684 1.03% 0 0 2,242,735.155 3.84% 2 0 2 2 4 0 Shamintō – Sunrise Party of Japan (SPJ) 328,475 0.56% 0 1 1,232,207.336 2.11% 1 1 1 2 3 0 Tachini – Happiness Realization Party (HRP) 291,810 0.50% 0 0 229,026.162 0.39% 0 0 0 1 1 0 Kōfuku – Independents[15] 1,314,313.027 2.25% 0 2 — 0 2 2 2 Other parties 318,847 0.55% 0 0 908,582.924 1.55% 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total (turnout 58,400,807.899 100.0% 73 1 58,453,432.438 100.0% 48 0 121 121 242 1 57.92%) Seating after the election. LDP (294) DPJ/Club of Independents (57) Restoration (54) Kōmeitō (31) YP (18) Tomorrow (9) JCP (8) Independents (5) SDP/Shimin Rengō (2) PNP (1) NPD(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Japan Page 4 of 10 Politics of Japan - Wikipedia 2019/05/28 1825 Summary of the 16 December 2012 Japanese House of Representatives election results[16] Local constituency vote PR block vote Total seats +/− Alliances and parties (pre- (last Votes[17] % Seats Votes % Seats Total % election) election) Liberal Democratic Party 25,643,309 43.01 237 16,624,457 27.79 57 294 61.25 176 175 (LDP) Jimintō New Komeito Party (NKP) 885,881 1.49 9 7,116,474 11.90 22 31 6.46 10 10 Kōmeitō Prospective LDP–NKP 26,529,190 44.49 246 23,740,931 39.69 79 325 67.71 186 185 Coalition Democratic Party (DPJ) 13,598,773 22.81 27 9,268,653 15.49 30 57 11.88 173 251 Minshutō Restoration Party (JRP) 6,942,353 11.64 14 12,262,228 20.50 40 54 11.25 43 — Ishin no Kai Your Party (YP) Minna no Tō 2,807,244 4.71 4 5,245,586 8.77 14 18 3.75 10 10 Tomorrow Party (TPJ) Mirai 2,992,365 5.02 2 3,423,915 5.72 7 9 1.88 52 — no Tō Communist Party (JCP) 4,700,289 7.88 0 3,689,159 6.17 8 8 1.67 1 1 Kyōsantō Social Democratic Party 451,762 0.76 1 1,420,790 2.38 1 2 0.42 3 5 (SDP) Shakai Minshutō People's New Party (PNP) 117,185 0.20 1 70,847 0.12 0 1 0.21 2 2 Kokumin Shintō New Party Daichi (NPD) 315,604 0.53 0 346,848 0.58 1 1 0.21 2 0 Shintō Daichi Happiness Realization Party 102,634 0.17 0 216,150 0.36 0 0 0.00 0 0 (HRP) Kōfuku Jitsugentō Others 62,697 0.11 0 134,781 0.23 0 0 0.00 0 0 Total opposition parties 32,090,906 53.82 49 36,078,957 60.31 101 150 31.25 180 249 Independents 1,006,468 1.69 5 – 5 1.04 4 1 Totals 59,626,564 100.00% 300 59,819,888 100.00% 180 480 100.00 1* 0 Turnout 59.32% 59.31% *(vacant seats) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Japan Page 5 of 10 Politics of Japan - Wikipedia 2019/05/28 1825 Summary of the 14 December 2014 Japanese House of Representatives election results[18][19] Local Constituency Vote PR Block Vote Total Seats +/− Political Party Votes[20] % Seats Votes % Seats Total % Before Last Government coalition 26,226,838 49.54% 232 24,973,152 46.82% 94 326 68.63% 0 +1 Liberal Democratic Party LDP 25,461,448 48.1% 223 17,658,916 33.11% 68 291 61.26% -4 -3 Komeito NKP 765,390 1.45% 9 7,314,236 13.71% 26 35 7.37% +4 +4 Democratic Party DPJ 11,916,849 22.51% 38 9,775,991 18.33% 35 73 15.37% +10 +16 Innovation Party JIP 4,319,645 8.16% 11 8,382,699 15.72% 30 41 8.63% -1 New Japan Communist Party JCP 7,040,130 13.3% 1 6,062,962 11.37% 20 21 4.42% +13 +13 Party for Future Generations PFG 947,395 1.79% 2 1,414,919 2.65% 0 2 0.42% -17 New Social Democratic Party SDP 419,347 0.79% 1 1,314,441 2.46% 1 2 0.42% 0 0 People's Life Party PLP 514,575 0.97% 2 1,028,721 1.93% 0 2 0.42% -3 New New Renaissance Party NRP - - - 16,597 0.03% 0 0 0.00% 0 0 Others 43,546 0.08% 0 364,965 0.69% 0 0 0.00% 0 0 Independents 1,511,242 2.85% 8 – – – 8 1.68% -7 +3 Total 52,939,789 100.00% 295 53,334,447 100.00% 180 475 100% -5[21] - Policy making Despite an increasingly unpredictable domestic and international environment, policy making conforms to well established postwar patterns.