Government of Japan
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Japan no longer officially has the traditional federal system, and its 47 prefectures depend on the central government for most funding. Governors of prefectures, mayors of municipalities, and prefectural and municipal assembly members are popularly elected for four-year terms.
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[edit] National government
[edit] Legislative branch
The National Diet of Japan is Japan's legislature. It consists of two houses: the House of Representatives of Japan and the House of Councilors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system.
The House of Representatives performs the legislative function of tabling and passing of Bills. It has several powers not given to the House of Councilors. If a bill is passed by the House of Representatives, but is voted down by the House of Councilors, the House of Representatives can override the decision of the other chamber. In the case of treaties, the budget, and the selection of the prime minister, however, the House of Councilors can only delay passage, but not block the legislation. As a result, the House of Representatives is considered the more powerful house.
[edit] House of Representatives
Of the House of Representatives' 480 members, 300 are elected from single seat constituencies under the Single Member Plurality ('First-past-the-post') system, and 180 are elected from eleven separate electoral blocs under the party list system of proportional representation (PR).
[edit] House of Councillors
Of the 242 members in the House of Councillors, 146 are elected from 47 prefectural constituencies by means of the Single Non-Transferable Vote. The remaining 96 are elected by party list PR from a single national list.
[edit] Executive branch
The executive branch reports to the Diet. The chief of the executive branch, the Prime Minister, is appointed by the emperor as directed by the Diet. He must be a member of either house of the Diet or a civilian. The Cabinet, which he organizes, must also be civilian. The Constitution states that the majority of the Cabinet must be elected members of either house of the Diet, the precise wording leaving an opportunity to appoint non-elected officials.
[edit] Prime Minister
[edit] Cabinet
[edit] Ministries
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Cabinet Office (National Public Safety Commission) Internal Affairs | Justice | Foreign Affairs | Finance | Education | Health | Agriculture | Economy | Land | Environment | Defense |
[edit] Judicial branch
The judicial branch is independent of the other two. Its judges are appointed by the Emperor as directed by the Diet.
Japan's judicial system, drawn from customary law, civil law, and Anglo-American common law, consists of several levels of courts, with the Supreme Court, as drawn up on May 3, 1947, 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 use a system, and there are no administrative courts or claims courts. Because of the judicial system's basis, court decisions are the final judicial authority.
[edit] Local government
| Administrative divisions of Japan |
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| Regional level |
| Regions (地方; Chihō) |
| Prefectural level |
| Prefectures (都道府県; To-dō-fu-ken ) |
| Subprefectural level |
| Subprefectures (支庁; Shichō) |
| Designated Cities (政令指定都市; Seirei-shitei-toshi) |
| Districts (郡; Gun) |
| Municipal level |
| Core Cities (中核市; Chūkaku-shi) |
| Special Cities (特例市; Tokurei-shi) |
| Cities (市; Shi) |
| Special Wards (特別区; Tokubetsu-ku) |
| Wards (区; Ku) |
| Towns (町; Chō / Machi) |
| Villages (村; Son / Mura) |
Japan is divided into forty-seven administrative divisions, the prefectures: one metropolitan district (to—Tokyo), two urban prefectures (fu—Kyoto and Osaka), forty-three rural prefectures (ken), and one "district" (note district is different from gun which appears later)(dō—Hokkaidō). Large cities are subdivided into wards (ku), and further split into towns, or precincts (machi or chō), or subprefecture (shichō) and counties (gun).
Each of the forty-seven local jurisdictions has a governor and a unicameral assembly, both elected by popular vote every four years. All are required by national Local Autonomy Law to maintain departments of general affairs, finance, welfare, health, and labor. Departments of agriculture, fisheries, forestry, commerce, and industry are optional, depending on local needs. The governor is responsible for all activities supported through local taxation or the national government.
Cities (shi) are self-governing units administered independently of the larger jurisdictions within which they are located. In order to attain shi status, a jurisdiction must have at least 30,000 inhabitants, 60 percent of whom are engaged in urban occupations. City government is headed by a mayor elected for four years by popular vote. There are also popularly elected city assemblies. The wards (ku) of Tokyo also elect their own assemblies and mayor (区長 kuchō?) s likewise.
The terms machi and chō designate self-governing towns outside the cities as well as precincts of urban wards. Like the cities, each has its own elected mayor and assembly. Villages (son or mura) are the smallest self-governing entities in rural areas. They often consist of a number of rural hamlets (buraku) containing several thousand people connected to one another through the formally imposed framework of village administration. Villages have mayors and councils elected to four-years terms.
Japan has a unitary rather than federal system of government, in which local jurisdictions largely depend on national government financially. Although much less powerful than its prewar counterpart (the Home Ministry), the postwar Ministry of Home Affairs, now Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, as well as other national ministries, intervene significantly in local government. This is done chiefly financially because many local government jobs need funding initiated by national ministries. This is dubbed as "thirty-percent autonomy" (三割自治 san wari jichi?). The result of this power is a high level of organizational and policy standardization among the different local jurisdictions allowing them to preserve the uniqueness of their prefecture, city, or town. Some of the more progressive jurisdictions, such as Tokyo and Kyoto, have experimented with policies in such areas as social welfare that later were adopted by the national government.
