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The Japanese political system has three types of elections: general elections to the House of Representatives held every four years (unless the lower house is dissolved earlier), elections to the House of Councillors held every three years to choose one-half of its members, and local elections held every four years for offices in prefectures, cities, and villages. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. The politics of Japan is in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic Monarchy, where the Prime Minister of Japan is the The politics of Japan is in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic Monarchy, where the Prime Minister of Japan is the The has been the founding legal document of Japan since 1947 The constitution provides for a Parliamentary system of government and guarantees certain fundamental rights The of Japan is the country's Monarch. He is the head of the Japanese Imperial Family. is the current of Japan, and the 125th Emperor according to Japan's traditional order of succession. The is a government agency of Japan in charge of the state matters concerning Japan's imperial family and also keeping the Privy Seal and the State Seal Japan no longer officially has the traditional Federal system, and its 47 prefectures, and prefectural and municipal assembly members are popularly elected for The is the usual English-language term used for the Head of government of Japan, although the literal translation of the Japanese name for the office is Prime This is a list of Prime Ministers of Japan, and its predecessor state the Empire of Japan, from when the first Prime Minister (in the modern sense Hirobumi was the 91st Prime Minister of Japan, serving from 2007 to 2008 The is the Executive branch of the Government of Japan. It consists of the Prime Minister and up to fourteen other members called Ministers of State The most influential part of the executive of the Japanese government are the ministries. The is Japan's Bicameral Legislature. It is composed of a Lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an Upper house, called The is the Upper house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the Lower house. The is the Lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the Upper house. In the judicial system of Japan, the postwar constitution guarantees that "all judges shall be independent in the exercise of their conscience and shall be bound only by Japan held a nationwide election for the House of Representatives, the more powerful Lower house of the National Diet than the Upper house, on Japan held a nationwide election to the House of Representatives, the more powerful Lower house of the National Diet, on July 18, 1993 A general election took place in Japan on October 20, 1996. Incumbent Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryutaro of the coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party Elections to the Shugi-In ( House of Representatives) of the Japanese Diet were held on 25 June 2000. A general election took place in Japan on November 9, 2003. Incumbent Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of the Liberal Elections to the House of Councillors, the upper house of the legislature of Japan, were held on July 11, 2004. For a breakdown of the results by block district with maps see Results of Japan general election 2005 Japan held a nationwide election to The for the upper house of the legislature of Japan were held on July 29 2007. Political parties in Japan lists political parties in Japan. Japan while universally recognized as a Liberal democracy with free and fair elections The, frequently abbreviated to LDP or, is a Centre right, conservative, Political party and the largest party in Japan. The is a liberal Political party in Japan founded in 1998 by the merger of several smaller parties The, New Komeito Party, or NKP is a Centre-right political party in Japan founded by members of the Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai The Japanese Communist Party ( JCP) ( Japanese " 日本共産党 Nihon Kyōsan-tō) is a Political party in Japan. The Social Democratic Party (社会民主党 Shakai Minshu-tō, often abbreviated to 社民党 Shamin-tō; also abbreviated as SDP in English While Japan 's political mainstream can be described as a "one and a half" party system with the LDP being the dominant force there is room for political extremism The prefectures of Japan are the country's 47 sub-national Jurisdictions one "metropolis" (都 to) Tokyo; one " circuit Monetary policy pertains to the regulation availability and cost of credit while fiscal policy deals with government expenditures taxes and debt The primary responsibility for the Japanese foreign policy, as determined by the 1947 constitution, is exercised by the cabinet and subject to the overall supervision Since the surrender after World War II and the return to the international community by the Treaty of San Francisco, Japanese diplomatic policy has been Japan is a Liberal democracy. According to Ministry of Justice (MOJ figures the Japanese Legal Affairs Bureau offices and civil liberties volunteers dealt Information on politics by country is available for every Country, including both De jure and De facto independent The is the Lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the Upper house. The is the Upper house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the Lower house. Elections are supervised by election committees at each administrative level under the general direction of the Central Election Administration Committee. The minimum voting age for persons of both sexes is twenty years; voters must satisfy a three-month residency requirement before being allowed to cast a ballot. For those seeking office, there are two sets of age requirements: twenty-five years of age for admission to the House of Representatives and most local offices, and thirty years of age for admission to the House of Councillors and the prefectural governorship.

Contents

National elections

The Diet (Kokkai) has two chambers. The is Japan's Bicameral Legislature. It is composed of a Lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an Upper house, called In Government, bicameralism (bi + Latin la ''camera'' chamber is the practice of having two legislative or Parliamentary chambers Thus a bicameral The House of Representatives (Shugi-in) has 480 members, elected for a four year term, 300 members in single-seat constituencies and 180 members by proportional representation in 11 block districts. The is the Lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the Upper house. A constituency is any cohesive corporate unit or body bound by shared structures goals or loyalty Proportional representation (sometimes referred to as full representation or PR is a category of electoral formula aiming at a close match between the percentage of votes In this system, each voter votes twice, once for a candidate in the local constituency, and once for a party, each of which has a list of candidates for each block district. Political parties in Japan lists political parties in Japan. Japan while universally recognized as a Liberal democracy with free and fair elections The local constituencies are decided by plurality, and the block seats are then handed out to the parties proportionally (by the D'Hondt method) to their share of the vote, who then appoint members from their lists. The plurality voting system is a Single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member The D'Hondt method (mathematically but not operationally equivalent to Jefferson's method, and Bader-Ofer method) is a Highest averages method for Often the parties assign the block seats to unsuccessful single-seat candidates.

The House of Councillors (Sangi-in) has 242 members, elected for a six year term, 146 members in multi-seat constituencies (prefectures) and 96 by proportional representation on the national level. The is the Upper house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the Lower house. A constituency is any cohesive corporate unit or body bound by shared structures goals or loyalty Proportional representation (sometimes referred to as full representation or PR is a category of electoral formula aiming at a close match between the percentage of votes Half of the House of Councillors comes up for election every three years.

For many years Japan was a one party dominant state, but in 1993 the dominant Liberal Democratic Party was defeated by a coalition government. A dominant-party system, or one party dominant system, is a Party system where only one Political party can realistically become the Government Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) The, frequently abbreviated to LDP or, is a Centre right, conservative, Political party and the largest party in Japan. They soon regained power. Due to the proportional voting system it is unlikely that Japan will develop an exclusive two-party system, but there is speculation that Japanese political diversity is declining. A two-party system is a form of Party system where two major Political parties dominate voting in nearly all Elections at every

Latest results

2007 House of Councillors election

Main article: Japanese House of Councillors election, 2007
[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 29 July 2007 Japanese House of Councillors elections result
Parties Proportional votes  % Prefectural seats 2007 Proportional seats 2007 Not up +/– Elected in 2007 Total seats
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Minshutō 23,256,242 39. The for the upper house of the legislature of Japan were held on July 29 2007. Events 1014 - Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. The is the Upper house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the Lower house. The for the upper house of the legislature of Japan were held on July 29 2007. The is a liberal Political party in Japan founded in 1998 by the merger of several smaller parties 5 40 20 49 +11 60 109
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Jiyū Minshutō 16,544,696 28. The, frequently abbreviated to LDP or, is a Centre right, conservative, Political party and the largest party in Japan. 1 23 14 46 –9 37 83
New Komeito Party (NKP) Shin Kōmeitō 7,762,324 13. The, New Komeito Party, or NKP is a Centre-right political party in Japan founded by members of the Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai 2 2 7 11 –2 9 20
Japanese Communist Party (JCP) Nihon Kyōsantō 4,407,937 7. The Japanese Communist Party ( JCP) ( Japanese " 日本共産党 Nihon Kyōsan-tō) is a Political party in Japan. 5 0 3 4 –1 3 7
Social Democratic Party (SDP) Shakai Minshutō 2,637,716 4. The Social Democratic Party (社会民主党 Shakai Minshu-tō, often abbreviated to 社民党 Shamin-tō; also abbreviated as SDP in English 5 0 2 3 –1 2 5
People's New Party (PNP) Kokumin Shintō 1,269,220 2. The People's New Party (国民新党 Kokumin Shintō) is a Centre-right, Conservative, Japanese political party formed on August 17 2 1 1 2 0 2 4
New Party Nippon (NPN) Shintō Nippon 1,770,697 3. The New Party Nippon (新党日本 Shintō Nippon) is a Japanese political party formed on August 21, 2005. 0 1 0 0 +1 1 1
Others 1,264,841 2. 1 7 0 6 +6 7 13
Total 121 121 242
Source: [1]

2005 General election

e•d Summary of the 11 September 2005 Japanese House of Representatives election results
Alliances and parties Local seats +/- Block seats +/- Block votes  % +/- Total seats +/-
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Jiyū Minshutō 219 +51 77 +8 25,887,798 38. The is the Lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the Upper house. For a breakdown of the results by block district with maps see Results of Japan general election 2005 Japan held a nationwide election to The, frequently abbreviated to LDP or, is a Centre right, conservative, Political party and the largest party in Japan. 2% +3. 3 296 +60
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Minshutō 52 -53 61 -11 21,036,425 31. The is a liberal Political party in Japan founded in 1998 by the merger of several smaller parties 0% -6. 4 113 -64
New Komeito Party (NKP) Kōmeitō 8 -1 23 -2 8,987,620 13. The, New Komeito Party, or NKP is a Centre-right political party in Japan founded by members of the Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai 3% -1. 5 31 -3
Japanese Communist Party (JCP) Nihon Kyōsantō 0 9 4,919,187 7. The Japanese Communist Party ( JCP) ( Japanese " 日本共産党 Nihon Kyōsan-tō) is a Political party in Japan. 3% -0. 4 9
Social Democratic Party (SDP) Shakai Minshutō 1 0 6 +1 3,719,522 5. The Social Democratic Party (社会民主党 Shakai Minshu-tō, often abbreviated to 社民党 Shamin-tō; also abbreviated as SDP in English 5% +0. 3 7 +1
People's New Party (PNP) Kokumin Shintō 2 2 1,183,073 1. The People's New Party (国民新党 Kokumin Shintō) is a Centre-right, Conservative, Japanese political party formed on August 17 7% 4
New Party Nippon (NPN) Shintō Nippon 0 1 1,643,506 2. The New Party Nippon (新党日本 Shintō Nippon) is a Japanese political party formed on August 21, 2005. 4% 1
New Party Daichi (NPD) Shintō Daichi 0 1 433,938 0. New Party Daichi (新党大地 Shintō Daichi, also known as New Party Big Earth) is a political party formed on August 18, 2005. 6% 1
Others 18 +1 - 18 +1
Total (turnout %) 300 180 67,781,069 100. 0 480
Main article: Japan general election, 2005

2004 Upper House election

e•d Summary of the 11 July 2004 Japanese House of Councillors election results
Alliances and parties Votes  % Prefectural seats 2004 Proportional seats 2004 elected in 2001 +/- Total seats +/-
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Minshutō 21,138,032 37. For a breakdown of the results by block district with maps see Results of Japan general election 2005 Japan held a nationwide election to The is the Upper house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the Lower house. Elections to the House of Councillors, the upper house of the legislature of Japan, were held on July 11, 2004. The is a liberal Political party in Japan founded in 1998 by the merger of several smaller parties 8 31 19 +5 79 +12
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Jiyū Minshutō 16,797,684 30. The, frequently abbreviated to LDP or, is a Centre right, conservative, Political party and the largest party in Japan. 0 34 15 -2 114 -1
New Komeito Party (NKP) Shin Kōmeitō 8,621,267 15. The, New Komeito Party, or NKP is a Centre-right political party in Japan founded by members of the Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai 4 3 8 +1 24 +1
Japanese Communist Party (JCP) Nihon Kyōsantō 4,363,107 7. The Japanese Communist Party ( JCP) ( Japanese " 日本共産党 Nihon Kyōsan-tō) is a Political party in Japan. 8 - 4 -4 9 -11
Social Democratic Party (SDP) Shakai Minshutō 2,990,667 5. The Social Democratic Party (社会民主党 Shakai Minshu-tō, often abbreviated to 社民党 Shamin-tō; also abbreviated as SDP in English 2 - 2 0 8 0
Others 2,022,134 - 5 - 0 13 +4
Total (turnout 56. 4 %)   73 48 121 242
Source: Adam Carr's Electoral Archive (2004) and [2] (2001)
Main article: Japan upper house election, 2004

Pre-reform electoral districts

In the 1980s, apportionment of electoral districts still reflected the distribution of the population in the years following World War II, when only one-third of the people lived in urban areas and two thirds lived in rural areas. Elections to the House of Councillors, the upper house of the legislature of Japan, were held on July 11, 2004. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including In the next forty-five years, the population became more than three-quarters urban, as people deserted rural communities to seek economic opportunities in Tokyo and other large cities. officially, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The lack of reapportionment led to a serious underrepresentation of urban voters. Urban districts in the House of Representatives were increased by five in 1964, bringing nineteen new representatives to the lower house; in 1975 six more urban districts were established, with a total of twenty new representatives allocated to them and to other urban districts. Yet great inequities remained between urban and rural voters.

In the early 1980s, as many as five times the votes were needed to elect a representative from an urban district compared with those needed for a rural district. Similar disparities existed in the prefectural constituencies of the House of Councillors. The Supreme Court had ruled on several occasions that the imbalance violated the constitutional principle of one person-one vote. The Supreme Court of Japan (最高裁判所 Saikō-Saibansho; called 最高裁 Saikō-Sai for short located in Chiyoda, Tokyo is the highest The Supreme Court mandated the addition of eight representatives to urban districts and the removal of seven from rural districts in 1986. Several lower house districts' boundaries were redrawn. Yet the disparity was still as much as three urban votes to one rural vote.

After the 1986 change, the average number of persons per lower house representative was 236,424. However, the figure varied from 427,761 persons per representative in the fourth district of Kanagawa Prefecture, which contains the large city of Yokohama, to 142,932 persons in the third district of largely rural and mountainous Nagano Prefecture. WikipediaWikiProject Japanese prefectures for guidelines --> is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū

The greatest success of the 1993 reform government under Hosokawa Morihiro was a change in the system whereby 200 members (reduced to 180 beginning with the 2000 election) are elected by proportional representation in multi-member districts or "blocs" while 300 are elected from single-candidate districts. Morihiro Hosokawa (細川 護煕 Hosokawa Morihiro, born January 14, 1938) is a Japanese Politician who was the 79th Prime Minister

Still, according to the October 6, 2006 issue of the Japanese newspaper Daily Yomiuri, "the Supreme Court followed legal precedent in ruling Wednesday that the House of Councillors election in 2004 was held in a constitutionally sound way despite a 5. 13-fold disparity in the weight of votes between the nation's most densely and most sparsely populated electoral districts".

Prefectural and local elections

See also

External links

Gubernatorial elections were held in Tokyo on 13 April 2003. Conservative Shintaro Ishihara was re-elected as governor Tokyo held a gubernatorial election on April 8 2007. There were fourteen candidates, among them the incumbent governor Shintaro Ishihara. Prefectural elections were held in Tokyo for the city's Metropolitan Assembly on June 24, 2001. Prefectural elections were held in Tokyo for the city's Metropolitan Assembly on 3 July 2005. An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office In Japan, the problem of political funding was intensely debated during the late 1980s and early 1990s partly as a result of revelations following the Recruit The is Japan's Bicameral Legislature. It is composed of a Lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an Upper house, called
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