Japan: Government

Principal Government Officials

Chief of State: Emperor Akihito
Head of Government: Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda

Japan is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government. There is universal adult suffrage with a secret ballot for all elective offices. Sovereignty, previously embodied in the emperor, is vested in the Japanese people, and the Emperor is defined as the symbol of the state.

Japan's government is a parliamentary democracy, with a House of Representatives (also known as the Lower House) and a House of Councillors (sometimes called the Upper House). Executive power is vested in a cabinet composed of a prime minister and ministers of state, all of whom must be civilians. The prime minister must be a member of the Diet and is designated by his colleagues. The prime minister has the power to appoint and remove ministers, a majority of whom must be Diet members. The judiciary is independent.

The seven major political parties represented in the National Diet are the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the People’s New Party (PNP), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the New Clean Government Party (Komeito), the Japan Communist Party (JCP), and Your Party (YP).

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 the final judicial authority. The Japanese constitution includes a bill of rights similar to the U.S. Bill of Rights, and the Supreme Court has the right of judicial review. Japanese courts do not use a jury system, and there are no administrative courts or claims courts. Because of the judicial system's basis, court decisions are made in accordance with legal statutes. Only Supreme Court decisions have any direct effect on later interpretation of the law.

Japan does not have a federal system, and its 47 prefectures are not sovereign entities in the sense that U.S. states are. Most depend on the central government for subsidies. Governors of prefectures, mayors of municipalities, and prefectural and municipal assembly members are popularly elected to 4-year terms.

Recent Political Developments
The post-World War II years saw tremendous economic growth in Japan, with the political system dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). That total domination lasted until the Diet lower house elections in July 1993, in which the LDP failed for the first time to win a majority. The LDP returned to power in 1994, with majorities in both houses of the Diet. In elections in July 2007, the LDP lost its majority in the upper house. The DPJ followed up on this advance with a landslide victory in the lower house elections of August 2009, giving the DPJ a majority in the more powerful lower house and a leading coalition in the upper house, overturning the post-World War II political order. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa both resigned in June 2010 due to lingering public discontent over a political finance scandal. Minister of Finance Naoto Kan was sworn in as the new Prime Minister on June 8, 2010. The DPJ did poorly in the following upper house elections, which some within the DPJ blamed on remarks by Kan that the DPJ was considering an increase in the consumption tax. Prime Minister Kan won a September 14, 2010 intra-party DPJ presidential election against former DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa, with approximately 71% of the general population supporting Kan’s victory according to a Nikkei newspaper poll.

Prime Minister Kan’s popularity, which had been sagging prior to the March 2011 earthquake, rebounded slightly in the aftermath of the earthquake but the DPJ has struggled in 2011 local elections. In early August 2011, Prime Minister Kan announced he would resign following the Diet’s imminent passage of reconstruction legislation.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Japan is the world's third-largest economy and a major economic power both in Asia and globally. Japan has diplomatic relations with nearly all independent nations and has been an active member of the United Nations since 1956. Japanese foreign policy has aimed to promote peace and prosperity for the Japanese people by working closely with the West and supporting the United Nations.

In recent years, the Japanese public has shown a substantially greater awareness of security issues and increasing support for the Self Defense Forces. This is in part due to the Self Defense Forces' success in disaster relief, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and its participation in peacekeeping operations in Cambodia in the early 1990s and reconstruction/stabilization efforts in Iraq in 2003-2008. However, there are still significant political and psychological constraints on strengthening Japan's security profile. Although a military role for Japan in international affairs is highly constrained by its constitution and government policy, Japanese cooperation with the United States through the 1960 U.S.-Japan Security Treaty has been important to the peace and stability of East Asia. In recent years, there have been domestic discussions about possible reinterpretation or revision of Article 9 of the Japanese constitution. All postwar Japanese governments have relied on a close relationship with the United States as the foundation of their foreign policy and have depended on the Mutual Security Treaty for strategic protection.

While maintaining its relationship with the United States, Japan has diversified and expanded its ties with other nations. Good relations with its neighbors continue to be of vital interest. After the signing of a peace and friendship treaty with China in 1978, ties between the two countries developed rapidly. Japan extended significant economic assistance to the Chinese in various modernization projects and supported Chinese membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). In recent years, however, Chinese exploitation of gas fields in the East China Sea has raised Japanese concerns given disagreement over the demarcation of their maritime boundaries. A long-running boundary dispute involving the Chinese and Taiwanese over the Senkaku (Diaoyu Tai) Islands also continues. Chinese President Hu Jintao's May 2008 visit to Tokyo, and subsequent high-level exchanges, have helped improve relations with China. Japan maintains economic and cultural but not diplomatic relations with Taiwan, with which a strong bilateral trade relationship thrives.

A surprise visit by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to Pyongyang, North Korea on September 17, 2002, resulted in renewed discussions on contentious bilateral issues--especially that of abductions to North Korea of Japanese citizens--and Japan's agreement to resume normalization talks in the near future. In October 2002, five abductees returned to Japan, but soon after negotiations reached a stalemate over the fate of abductees' families in North Korea. Japan's economic and commercial ties with North Korea plummeted following Kim Jong-il's 2002 admission that D.P.R.K. agents abducted Japanese citizens. Japan strongly supported the United States in its efforts to encourage Pyongyang to abide by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In 2006, Japan responded to North Korea's July missile launches and October nuclear test by imposing sanctions and working with the United Nations Security Council. The U.S., Japan, and South Korea closely coordinate and consult trilaterally on policy toward North Korea, and Japan participates in the Six-Party Talks to end North Korea's nuclear arms ambitions. Japan and North Korea reached an agreement in August 2008 in which Pyongyang promised to reinvestigate abduction cases. However, the D.P.R.K. has failed to implement the agreement. Continued North Korean missile tests and bellicose language is viewed with serious concern in Japan.

In recent years, Japan and the Republic of Korea have stepped up high-level diplomatic activity and coordination, resulting in an improved tone in their relationship. However, historical differences, including territorial disputes involving the Liancourt Rocks, complicate Japan's political relations with South Korea despite growing economic and cultural ties.

Japan's relations with Russia are hampered by the two sides' inability to resolve their territorial dispute over the islands that make up the Northern Territories (Southern Kuriles) seized by the U.S.S.R. at the end of World War II. The stalemate over territorial issues has prevented conclusion of a peace treaty formally ending the war between Japan and Russia. The United States recognizes Japanese sovereignty over the islands. During his initial meeting with Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev in September 2009, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said he wanted to resolve the issue and sign a peace treaty. Despite the lack of progress in resolving the Northern Territories and other disputes, however, Japan and Russia continue to develop other aspects of the overall relationship, including two large, multi-billion dollar oil-natural gas consortium projects on Sakhalin Island.

Japan has pursued a more active foreign policy in recent years, recognizing the responsibility that accompanies its economic strength, and has expanded ties with the Middle East, which provides most of its oil. In 2006, Japan's Ground Self Defense Force completed a successful 2-year mission in Iraq. The Air Self-Defense Force's (ASDF) airlift support mission in Iraq formally ended in December 2008. In January 2010, the Diet also ended the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law that allowed for Japan's Maritime Self Defense Force refueling activities in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Indian Ocean. Since 2009, Japan has been an active partner in international counter-piracy efforts off the Horn of Africa.

Japan increasingly is active in Africa and Latin America--concluding negotiations with Mexico and Chile on an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and undertaking negotiations with Peru--and has extended significant support to development projects in both regions. Japan's economic engagement with its neighbors is increasing, as evidenced by the conclusion of EPAs with Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and Vietnam.

As host of the G8 Summit in July 2008, Japan focused on four themes: environment and climate change, development and Africa, the world economy, and political issues including non-proliferation. Since 2007 successive Japanese prime ministers have announced their support for initiatives to address greenhouse gas emissions and to mitigate the impact of energy consumption on climate. In September 2009, Prime Minister Hatoyama strengthened the Japanese Government’s commitment to this effort by pledging to reduce Japan’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020 from 1990 levels.

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