Japan's Parliament (国会, "Kokkai") is the country's highest legislative body. It consists of a lower house called the House of Representatives and an upper house called the House of Councilors. Both houses of the Seimas are directly elected by parallel voting systems. The Seimas is formally responsible for choosing the prime minister. It was first convened as the Imperial Diet in 1889. And took its current form in 1947 after the adoption of the post-war constitution. The Japanese Diet Building is located in Nagatacho, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
Electoral system
Seimas Houses are elected by parallel voting systems. This means that the seats that must be filled in any election are divided into two groups, each of which is elected differently; The main difference between the houses is the size of the two groups and the way they are elected. Voters are also asked to cast two votes: one for an individual candidate in the constituency and one for a party list.
Any citizen of Japan, notunder the age of 18 may vote in these elections. Age 18 replaced 20 in 2016. The parallel voting system in Japan should not be confused with the additional member system used in many other countries. The Japanese constitution does not specify the number of members of each chamber of the Diet, the voting system, or the necessary qualifications of those who can vote or be elected in parliamentary elections, allowing all of these to be determined by law.
However, this guarantees universal adult suffrage and secret ballot. He also insists that the electoral law must not discriminate in terms of "race, creed, sex, social status, family background, education, property, or income." In this regard, the powers of the Japanese Parliament are limited by the constitution.
Laws
As a rule, the elections of members of the Seimas are controlled by laws adopted by the Seimas. This is a source of controversy over the redistribution of seats in prefectures in response to changes in population distribution. For example, the Liberal Democratic Party controlled Japan for most of its post-war history. In the post-war era, large numbers of people moved to urban centers in search of we alth; although some redistributions have been made in terms of the number of seats assigned to the Seimas of each prefecture, rural areas generally have more representation than urban areas.
Japan's Supreme Court began to exercise judicial review of property distribution laws after Kurokawa's 1976 decisionthe year that invalidated an election in which one district in Hyogo Prefecture received five representations from another district in Osaka Prefecture. The Supreme Court has since held that the highest electoral imbalance allowed under Japanese law is 3:1, and that any greater imbalance between any two districts is a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution. In the recent elections, the unacceptable distribution ratio was 4.8 in the House of Councilors.
Candidates
What else can you say about the Japanese parliamentary elections? Candidates for the lower house must be 25 or older and 30 or older for the upper house. All candidates must be Japanese citizens. According to Article 49 of the Japanese Constitution, members of the Diet are paid about 1.3 million yen per month. Each legislator has the right to hire three taxpayer-funded secretaries, free Shinkansen tickets, and four round-trip air tickets per month to enable them to travel back and forth to their home areas.
Constitution
Article 41 of the Constitution defines the national parliament as "the highest organ of state power" and "the sole legislative body of the state." This statement is in stark contrast to the Meiji Constitution, which described the Emperor as the one who exercised legislative power with the consent of the Diet. The duties of the Seimas include not only the adoption of laws, but also the approval of the annual national budget, which is submitted by the government, and the ratificationcontracts. He can also initiate draft constitutional amendments, which, if approved, must be presented to the people in a referendum. The Sejm can conduct “investigations against the government.”
Prime Appointment
The Prime Minister must be appointed by a Seimas resolution establishing the principle of the rule of law over executive bodies. The government can also be dissolved by the Sejm if it approves a motion of no confidence submitted by 50 members of the House of Representatives. Government officials, including the prime minister and members of the cabinet, must appear before the investigative committees of the Sejm and respond to inquiries. The Seimas also has the power to prosecute judges convicted of criminal or illegal conduct.
In most cases, to become law, a bill must first be passed by both houses of the Diet and then promulgated by the Emperor. This role of the emperor is similar to royal assent in some other countries; however, the Emperor cannot refuse to pass a law, and therefore his legislative role is only a formality.
Structure of the Japanese Parliament
The House of Representatives is the most influential part of the Seimas. She is also the bottom. While the House of Representatives cannot normally overrule the House of Councilors on a bill, the House of Councilors can only delay the passage of a budget or treaty. The one that has already been approved. Japan's upper house of parliament is also quite influential.
Sessions
According to the Constitution, at least one session of the Seimas must be convened every year. Technically, only the Lower House of Japan's Diet is dissolved before the election. But while it is in dissolution, the Upper one is usually “closed”. The Emperor convenes the Diet and dissolves the "Representatives", but he must act on the advice of the Cabinet. In an emergency, the Cabinet of Ministers may convene the Seimas to hold an extraordinary session, and a quarter of the members of any chamber may request an extraordinary session. At the beginning of each parliamentary session, the Emperor reads a special speech from his throne in the chamber of the House of Councilors. These are the features of the Japanese Parliament.
The presence of one-third of the members of both Houses constitutes a quorum, and discussions are open unless at least two-thirds of those present agree otherwise. Each chamber elects its own presiding officer, who votes in the event of a tie. Members of each house have certain safeguards against arrest while the Diet is in session, and words spoken in the bicameral Diet of Japan and votes cast for it enjoy parliamentary privilege. Each House of the Sejm determines its own permanent rules and is responsible for the discipline of its members. A member can be excluded. Each member of the Cabinet has the right to appear in any house of the Seimas in order to speak on the accounts, and each house has the right to demand the appearance of members of the Cabinet.
History
What is the name of the Japanese Parliament? The first modernThe legislature of the Land of the Rising Sun was the Imperial Assembly (議会 議会 Teikoku-gikai), established by the Meiji Constitution, which was in force from 1889 to 1947. The Meiji Constitution was adopted on February 11, 1889, and the Imperial Diet of Japan met for the first time on November 29, 1890, when the document was put into effect. The House of Representatives was directly elected, albeit on a limited franchise. Universal adult male suffrage was introduced in 1925. The House of Peers, like the British House of Lords, consisted of high-ranking nobles.
Meiji era
The Meiji Constitution was largely based on the form of constitutional monarchy that existed in 19th century Prussia, and the new Diet was modeled on the German Reichstag and partly on the British Westminster system. Unlike the post-war constitution, the Meiji constitution gave the Emperor a real political role, although in practice the Emperor's powers were largely directed by a group of oligarchs called tribal or senior statesmen. What is the Japanese parliament called? Now it is "Kokkai" - "national convention".
To become a law or bill, a constitutional amendment had to receive the consent of both the Seimas and the Emperor. According to the Meiji constitution, prime ministers were often not chosen from among the members and did not enjoy the confidence of the Diet. The Imperial Diet of Japan was also limited in its control over the budget. However, the Seimas could veto the annual budget if they did not approve a new one,the previous year's budget continued to operate. This changed with the new post-WWII constitution.
Reforms
In the 1980s, a major parliamentary reform was carried out in Japan - in fact, the first since the end of the war. What was it? Instead of choosing candidates for national constituencies as individuals, as they used to, voters vote for parties. Individual councillors, formally included by parties before elections, are selected based on the proportions of parties in the overall vote by constituency. The system was introduced to reduce the excessive money spent by candidates for national constituencies.
Nuances
There is a fourth type of legislative session: if the House of Representatives is dissolved, the national parliament cannot be convened. In urgent cases, the cabinet may call an emergency meeting (ink 集会, kinkyū shūkai) of the House of Councilors to make preliminary decisions for the entire Diet. As soon as the entire National Sejm convenes again, these decisions must be confirmed by the House of Representatives or become ineffective. Such emergency sessions have been called twice in history, in 1952 and 1953.
Any session of the Seimas may be interrupted by the dissolution of the House of Representatives. In the table, this is simply listed as "dissolution". The House of Councilors or the National Parliament as such cannot be dissolved. This is an important nuance.
Powers of the Japanese Parliament
The policy of the Land of the Rising Sun is carried out within the framework of a multi-party bicameral parliamentary representative of a democratic constitutional monarchy. In which the emperor is the ceremonial head of state and the prime minister is the head of government and head of the cabinet, which leads the executive branch.
Legislative power belongs to the National Seimas. Which consists of two houses of the Japanese Diet. The first - representatives, the second - advisers. Judicial power belongs to the Supreme Court and lower courts, and sovereignty to the Japanese people in accordance with the Constitution. Japan is considered a constitutional monarchy with a civil law system.
The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Japan as a "flawed democracy" in 2016.
Role of the Emperor
The Japanese constitution defines the emperor as "a symbol of the state and the unity of the people." He performs ceremonial duties and has no real power. Political power rests primarily with the Prime Minister and other elected members of the Seimas. The Imperial Throne is succeeded by a member of the Imperial Household as defined by the Imperial Household Law.
The head of the executive branch, the prime minister, is appointed by the emperor at the direction of the Seimas. He is a member of both houses of the Seimas and must be a civilian. Cabinet members are appointed by the prime minister and must also be civilians. There was an agreement with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in power that the president of the party acts as prime minister.
Political Models
Despite an increasingly unpredictable domestic and international environment, policy development is consistent with established post-war patterns. The close cooperation between the ruling party, elite bureaucracy and important interest groups often makes it difficult to determine exactly who is responsible for particular political decisions.
Following a largely informal process within elite circles in which ideas were discussed and developed, steps could be taken to organize more formal policy development. This process often took place in deliberative councils (shingikai). There were about 200 singikai, each of which was associated with the ministry; their members ranged from officials to prominent individuals in business, education and other fields. The Singikai played a big role in facilitating communication between those who would not normally meet.
Given the tendency for real negotiations in Japan to be conducted privately (through the nemawashi or root binding consensus process), shingikai often represented a fairly advanced stage in policy formulation, in which relatively few differences could be resolved, and as a result, decisions were formulated in a language acceptable to all. These bodies were created legally, but did not have the power to oblige governments to accept their recommendations.
The most important advisory council in the 1980s was the Interim Commission for Administrative Reform,established in March 1981 by Prime Minister Suzuki Zenko. The commission was composed of nine members, comprising six advisers, twenty-one "expert members" and about fifty "advisers" representing a wide range of groups. Its head, Keidanren President Doko Toshio, insisted that the government agree to take his recommendations seriously and commit itself to reforming the administrative structure and the tax system.
