Cavite State University

Don Severino De Las Alas Campus, Main

Indang, Cavite

“Japan’s Government System”

A Term Paper
Presented to Faculty and Staff of
College of Arts and Sciences
And to
Mr. Renato T. Agdalpen

In Partial Fulfilment of the Course

The Philippine Government System (POSC23)
And for the Degree
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science

Christopher Joshua D. Ibañez

November 2018
 Table of Contents

Chapter I

I. Historical Background

II. Governmental Leaders

III. Political Culture

Chapter II

I. Japan’s Government System

II. Government Transitions

III. Three Branches of Government

Chapter III

I. Analysis of Critique

II. Assessment of Compatibility to Philippine Context

III. Recommendation

Chapter IV

I. Findings, Summary, and Conclusion

Acknowledgement
Abstract
 Chapter I

I. Historical Background

Much of Japan's early culture, including art, language,

Buddhism and Confucianism was derived from China and, over the

years, has become Japanese. During a period of civil wars in

the fifteenth and sixteenth a feudal system, much like that of

medieval Europe, developed.1 Each lord had his knights, or

samurai, who were bound to them by oaths of fealty. But it

wasn't until the middle of the sixteenth century that the

western world became interested in this island nation. In 1542

a Portuguese mariner, Fernando Mendez Pinto was wrecked there

and brought back such glowing reports of the country that

Portugal established a trading mission at Nagasaki. Soon Dutch

merchants and European missionaries followed. In 1600 Tokugawa

Ieyasu won a victory over the western lords and in 1603 became

the Shogus, founding a dynasty which effectively ruled Japan

until 1867. An Englishman, William Adams, who had served under

Sir Francis Drake and had been a pilot for the Barbary

merchants, joined a Dutch fleet which sailed for Japan. After

a troubled beginning there, the Shogun, Tokugawa, took a

liking to him, and he was given a house. Jesuits and Japanese

missionaries Christians acted as interpreters. The emperor

1

http://www.sdopera.com/Content/Operapaedia/Operas/MadamaButterfly/Jap
anHistoricalBackground.htm
sent for him and asked him to build a ship. Although Adams

knew nothing about shipbuilding, he was so successful that the

Emperor gave him two swords (the mark of a samurai). He also

taught the emperor some mathematics. Although Adams had a wife

in England, the emperor declared that William Adams was dead

and reborn as Miura Anjin, free to marry again. He married a

high-born Japanese woman, but eventually wished to go home.

Permissioin was refused, he built another, larger ship and had

over 80 retainers. He died in Japan in 1620. James Clavell's

novel Shogun based on his experiences.

Soon the Exclusion Decrees were published and Japan was

closed to the West. After it was reopened in 1854, the Western

world became fascinated with all things Japanese. Commodore

Perry had opened to view a society and culture which had been

hidden for hundreds of years. Soon exhibitions of Japanese art

opened throughout the United States and Europe and japonisme

became the rage as chinoiserie had been a century before.

Japanese motifs such as bridges, fans, cranes, butterflies,

and bamboo were incorporated into Western art and furnishings.

Literature also responded to the influx of new themes. Poets

2
such as Whitman, Longfellow and Yeats incorporated Japanese

images into their works. Stories set in Japanese locals were

2
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0176268000000021
written and several of these merged into the one depicted in

Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

II. Governmental Leaders

Japan had a very bright and long history of their leaders

which was recorded through a Japanese calendar. These leaders

were called Emperors which is, according to the locals,

traditionally believed that was a descent from a goddess.

Emperor Jimmu ( 神武天皇 Jinmu-tennō) was the first Emperor of

Japan, according to legend. His accession is traditionally

dated as 660 BC. According to Japanese mythology, he is a

descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, through her grandson

Ninigi, as well as a descendant of the storm god Susanoo. He

launched a military expedition from Hyuga near the Inland Sea,

captured Yamato, and established this as his center of power.

In modern Japan, Jimmu's accession is marked as National

Foundation Day on February 11.3

Jimmu is recorded as Japan's first ruler in two early

chronicles, Nihon Shoki (721) and Kojiki (712). Nihon Shoki

gives the dates of his reign as 660–585 BC. In the reign of

Emperor Kanmu (737-806 AD), the eighth-century scholar Ōmi no

Mifune designated rulers before Ōjin as tennō (天皇, "heavenly

sovereign"), a Japanese pendant to the Chinese imperial title

3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_political_values
 Tiān-dì (天帝), and gave several of them including Jimmu their

canonical names. Prior to this time, these rulers had been

known as sumera no mikoto/ōkimi. This practice had begun under

Empress Suiko, and took root after the Taika Reforms with the

ascendancy of the Nakatomi clan. According to the legendary

account in the Kojiki, Emperor Jimmu was born on February 13,

711 BC (the first day of the first month of the Chinese

calendar), and died, again according to legend, on April 9,

585 BC (the eleventh day of the third month). Both the Kojiki

and the Nihon Shoki give Jimmu's name as Kamu-yamato Iware-

biko no mikoto (神倭伊波礼琵古命/神日本磐余彦尊). Iware indicates a

toponym whose precise purport is unclear. The Imperial House

of Japan traditionally based its claim to the throne on its

putative descent from the sun-goddess Amaterasu via Jimmu's

great grandfather Ninigi.

The table below would illustrate the last four (4) emperors

of Japan.

Table 1.

Image Personal Reign Emperor

Name Name
Mutsuhito 1867–1912 Emperor First
Meiji Emperor of
the Empire
of Japan
 Yoshihito 1912-1926 Emperor Crown
Taisho Prince
Hirohito
served as
Sesshō
(Prince
Regent)
1921–1926
Hirohito 1926-1989 Emperor Served as
Showa Sesshō
(Prince
Regent)
1921–1926.
Last
Emperor of
the Empire
of Japan
Akihito 1989- Emperor Referred to
present Kinjo as Kinjō
Tennō ("the
Reigning
Emperor".

The last four (4) emperors serve as the first constitutional

monarchy by the time of Meijie Era, which was governed by Emperor

Meiji.

III. Political Culture

The Japanese Voter (1991)— the book written by Scott C.

Flanagan, Shinsaku Kohei, Ichiro Miyake, Bradly M. Richardson

and Joji Watanuki is the fi rst comprehensive study of voting

behavior and political culture written in English. This

excellent study identifi ed some factors for example,

“relative absence of economic voting, the weak role of the

media, the continuing importance of cultural values, the

enormous stability in voting patterns, and the effects of the

unusual Japanese electoral system,” which are embedded in

Japanese political culture.

Categorization of Japanese Political Culture

If we categorize political culture broadly, Japan has hoshu-

kakushim similar to the meaning of left-right (progressive-

conservative) ideology in the western sense of the term.

Support for pre-war regime and rearmament of Japan were the

salient features of hoshu and kakushim characterized by the

support for an anti-prewar regime and opposition to the

rearmament of Japan. However the old concept of hosu-kakushim

has changed since 1970s. “According to Kabashima and Takenaka,

hoshu meant support for small governments, market economy, and

economic development. On the other hand, kakushim meant

support for big government, equality, and participation.”

Another Japanese scholar Hirano conducted a survey and found

that there were “still safety assurances, participation and

equality and neoconservatism axes in the ideology structure of

Japanese voters.” Japanese political culture, however, has

three orientations—1) developmental orientation, 2) the

principles of co-existence, and 3) holistic philosophy.

Uniform or strict categorization of political culture may not

be possible or applicable to all circumstances. However, if we

want to fi t Japanese political culture into Almond and

Verba’s three-fold classification (the parochial-subject

culture, the subject-participant culture, and parochial-

participant culture), Japan’s political culture seems closer

to subject-participant political culture. However, three

trends of political culture are prevalent in the Japanese

society:

1. Authoritarian-conservative:

One trend is authoritarian-conservative, which lacks much

political knowledge. Elderly people with prewar mentality,

less educated rural people and women are mostly represented by

this category. Age is an important factor in Japanese mass

political behavior. Despite the introduction of democratic

type of constitution after the World War II and granting of

freedom of thought and expression and political rights, these

elderly people are very much emotionally attached to the

prewar traditional values and Emperor. “As a result of their

value preference, older tended to support the preservation of

prewar values.” Statistics showed that 81 percent of voters

aged 60 and over supported the conservatives, while the

support of age group between 50 to 59 was 75 percent in the

elections of 1955. The support of age group 60 and over in

1958 election was 77 percent. The age group 50 to 59 extended

their 70 percent support to the conservatives in the same

elections. Gradual erosion of conservative votes since 1955

was noticeable. Votes received by LDP in 1993 were as low as

36.6 percent. Inclusion of new voters in the voters list

possibly explains the cause of this decline.

2. Centrist-progressive Political Culture:

Confrontation between conservative and progressive

ideologies generated another variety of political culture.

Middle aged people are motivated and activated largely by

these conflicting ideas. Political involvement and

participation is high among these voters. These people are the

most mobilized and active during the election. Anti-feudalism,

anti-militarism, and revised Constitution of 1947 containing

democratic ideals created the atmosphere for the growth of

many organizations and movements for farmers, labors and women

in the post war Japan. With it emerged an anti-conservative

and anti-American forces backed by the group of journalists,

intellectuals and followers of socialist parties. They wanted

to abrogate the Security Treaty with the United States and see

Japan as unarmed neutral state as written in Article 9 of the

Constitution. Leftist challenges to the conservative

“paradise” also stimulated students’ movements and a number of

consumer movements such as environment movement, consumer

movement and the like. But unarmed neutrality, non-acceptance

of Self Defense Forces, abrogation of Security Treaty and

socialistic economic model raised some confusion and demanded

clarification to meet the realities in the then Japan. The

progressive force failed to give answers to those quarries and

faced the decline of support.

3. New Political Culture (NPC):

Higher education, exposure to politics through media,

communication and traveling abroad have created one type of

political culture that is prevalent mostly among the young

generation. Their attitude towards politics is some how

apathetic, they do not want to get involved in politics or to

belong to any political party. They are also “free of any

social pressure to vote in a particular way.” Some of course

argue that they also do not know how to make linkage with the

“machine politics.” It can also be said that it is the failure

of the political leadership not being able to fit the young

generation into Japanese political arena. Pessimism in

politics of course has its root in social norm in Japan. But

high information technology has tremendous influence in

creating negative attitude towards politics by exposing

information about corruption, selfishness, and money politics

of the politicians. High degree of ‘do not know’ can also be

found among them. But unlike the first ‘do not know’ category,

they are not ignorant of policy issues and other aspects of

politics. They are quite aware, well informed, politically

conscious and have considerable concern over politics. Their

apathy and ambivalence arise from the fact that political

environment and politicians cannot create much appeal to them.

The formation of their mental frame, because of their

education, knowledge and rich information, always conflicts

with their desire to see the politicians to be clean and

selfless. They however do not want any radical or

revolutionary change or to be the younger samurai. They feel

that the things are not going well, but they are not prepared

to work or give much thought to the problems. Moreover the

young generation does not have any problem of ‘catching up’ as

their fathers and grand fathers had. They can now easily set

aside the less important troublesome issue like politics.4

Chapter II

I. Japan’s Government System

The government of Japan—a constitutional monarchy—is based

on a parliamentary cabinet system. Executive power is vested

in the cabinet, which consists of the prime minister and not

more than 17 ministers of state that collectively must answer

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https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/psycholres1954/16/1/16_1_8/_pdf/-
char/en
to the Japanese Legislature or Diet. The prime minister, who

must be a member of the Diet, is also appointed by the Diet to

serve as head of state. In practice, the prime minister is

always a member of the House of Representatives (not the House

of Councillors). The prime minister has the power to appoint

and dismiss the ministers of state, all of whom must be

civilians and at least half of whom must be members of the

Diet. The third branch of Japanese government is the

Judiciary, with the highest judicial authority being the

Supreme Court of Japan. The Supreme Court consists of a chief

justice and 14 associate justices. The chief justice is

appointed by the emperor upon designation by the Cabinet,

which also appoints the other 14 justices. Justices serve for

life or until retirement and may be removed only by public

impeachment.5

II. Government Transitions

Japan has a long and storied history, but its government and

political system, at least as we know it today, are relatively

new. Unlike the American government and British political

system, which essentially have existed in their current form

for centuries, the present Japanese political system is a much

more recent creation, one dating back to Japan’s defeat in

World War II and its subsequent occupation by the United

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States. The Japanese Constitution, drafted in the wake of the

war in 1947, essentially abolished the country’s militarist

government in favor of a democratic government. While there

can be no debate that Japan is now a democratic country, its

political system reflects a different kind of democracy than

that of the United States and many of the countries in Western

Europe. The most important reason for this has been the

dominance of a single party—the Liberal Democratic Party—which

has held power almost unbroken for more than 50 years.

The Japanese Constitution that was drafted under Allied

occupation has turned out to be a very rigid document. Since

its formal adoption, there have been no amendments made to it.

The most significant reason for this is that Article 96 of the

constitution stipulates that any amendment requires a two-

thirds majority of both houses of the Legislature, plus the

consent of a majority of those voting in a referendum. This

rigidity, however, may change in the near future, as the

current government has already enacted a law stating that any

such referendum does not require a minimum turnout and is

hoping to pass another law to scale down the requirement for a

two-thirds majority in the two houses to a simple majority.

In the following article we will take a closer look at

Japan’s modern government, including some information about

each of its three branches of government: the Legislative,

Executive and Judicial branches. We will also briefly explain

the Japanese election process and outline the terms and

requirements for those running for political office.6

III. Three Branches of Government

Legislative Branch: National Diet

The Japanese legislative branch (parliament) is called the

National Diet (Kokkai). It consists of the House of

Representatives (Shūgiin) and the House of Councillors

(Sangiin). All members of the Diet are elected by a majority

vote of the Japanese people. Under the Meiji Constitution of

1889, the Imperial Diet was established on the basis of two

houses with coequal powers. Under the post-war Constitution

of 1947, however, the Diet was drastically altered both in

structure and in powers.

House of Councillors

As mentioned above, there are still two houses that comprise

the National Diet: The House of Representatives and the House

of Councillors. The House of Councillors has taken the place

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of the old House of Peers and has a membership of 250, split

between 2 categories. 100 councillors are elected by the

nation at large, with the remaining 152 councillors elected as

prefectural representatives—representatives from the various

election districts throughout the country. Every voter is

permitted to cast a ballot for a councilor candidate in each

category, giving him/her a total of two votes in the election

of that House. The members of the House of Councillors serve

for six years, with one half of the membership standing for

election every three years. The House of Councillors cannot be

dissolved in case of a conflict between it and the executive

branch. The balance of power, however, lies in the lower house

(House of Representatives), where general agreement with

executive policy must prevail. In the case of a deadlock

between the two houses over the selection of a prime minister,

the vote of the lower house takes precedence. The budget must

first be submitted to the lower house; if the two houses

cannot agree, the position of the lower house prevails after

30 days. This same provision applies to treaties. With other

legislation, if the House of Councillors reject a bill or

refuse to act upon it within 60 days, the House of

Representatives can make it law by re-passing it by a two-

thirds majority of the members in attendance.

House of Representatives
 Japan’s House of Representatives has a membership of 467

elected from 118 electoral districts. Every district has from

three to five representatives, but voters can only cast one

ballot, with the candidates receiving the highest number of

votes being elected. Members of this lower house, which is

seen as the most powerful of the two houses,are elected for a

term of four years, but the house can be dissolved at any time

by the government, in which case elections must be held within

40 days. The Japanese Parliament unlike the legislature of the

United States, the Japanese Diet rarely initiates important

legislation. Laws such as these are normally brought to the

Diet under cabinet sponsorship. However, an individual

member, from either the House of Representatives or House of

Councillors, can introduce a bill, as long as the legislation

has been signed by at least 10 other members, if brought by a

member of the House of Councillors, or 20 other members if

brought by a member of the House of Representatives. Under

the laws of the National Diet, the committee system has been

drastically altered to more closely resemble that of the

United States. Each chamber has approximately 20 standing

committees, focusing on subjects such as foreign affairs,

education, and finance. Government legislation goes first to

the appropriate committee, where it carefully examined and, in

some cases, vigorously debated. The membership serving on

these committees is determined by the Diet in approximate

accordance with the party ratios in each house. A member

generally retains his committee assignments for as long as he

serves in parliament. Consequently, he tends to develop some

very detailed knowledge on a subject and may provide a

challenge to government policymakers of opposing parties or

convictions.

Executive Branch of Japanese Government

The executive branch or Cabinet of the Japanese government

is headed up by the Prime Minister, who serves as the

country’s official head of state. The cabinet further

consists of up to 17 ministers, who are appointed by the prime

minister and are usually members of the Diet. Unlike the

United States, where the head of state (President) is elected

by a majority vote of the people, the prime minister is

appointed by vote of the Diet, the only branch of government

elected by the Japanese people. Executive powers in Japan are

vested exclusively in the Cabinet, led by the prime minister.

The prime minister, who is the majority party leader, is

officially appointed by the Emperor of Japan upon nomination

by the Diet. The Cabinet is responsible to the Diet and must

resign if the House of Representatives pass a vote of no-

confidence. The Prime Minister is chosen for a term of four

years, although the political turbulence of the Japanese

system is such that he rarely serves a full term. He must win

a majority in the Diet in a single signed ballot. Should the

two houses of the Diet be unable to reach an agreement, the

decision of the House of Representatives always prevails. The

official residence of the Prime Minister is called the Kantei

a relatively new building that was opened in 2002. The current

Prime Minister of Japan is Shinzo Abe, reappointed by the Diet

in 2012 as Japan’s 96th prime minister. Prime Minister Abe is

a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the same party

that currently holds the majority in both the House of

Representatives and the House of Councillors. Shinzo Abe was

born on September 21, 1954 and has served in the House of

Representatives since 1993. He is the seventh Prime Minister

in the last six years.

Judicial Branch of Japanese Government

The balance of powers in Japan’s new government is completed

by the third official branch of government: the Judiciary.

Japan has an independent judiciary, one that consists of a

Supreme Court, 10 high courts, 50 district courts located in

every prefecture and major city in the country, and a number

of family courts to settle domestic complaints. Supreme Court

justices, of which there are 15 including the Chief Justice,

are chosen by the cabinet. As it is in many developed

countries, the Supreme Court of Japan is the highest judicial

authority and the final court of appeals. Their most

important responsibility is to review laws in cases of appeal

to determine the constitutionality of the governing statute.

If, after reviewing a case, they find that the law governing

it is not constitutional according to the laws set forth by

that document, they can overturn a conviction or prior

decision of one of the lower courts.

This process of constitutional review is very slow and

deliberate, as Japan’s legal system has a reputation for

crawling along at a snail’s pace. Many legal matters are

solved with counselors in offices rather than judges in court

rooms. The cost of litigation in Japan is very high, as

Japan’s court system is basically a three-step process in

which parties to a dispute, following an unfavorable court

hearing and outcome, have the right to undergo two additional

court hearings and decisions, as stipulated by the procedures

for appeal (koso) and, ultimately, final appeal (jokoku). The

number of court judges is very small in relation to the number

of court cases submitted for hearing and judgment. As such,

the appeals process can be very slow. Those critical of the

Japanese legal system—of which there are many—argue that it

offers fewer protections for individual rights than the

systems in other developed countries and discourages

individuals with legitimate appeal complaints from taking

their concerns to court, especially when their complaints are

against the government and/or big business.7

Chapter III

I. Analysis of Critique

Constitutional Monarchy

Japan’s government and legal systems had been transitioned

into constitutional monarchy, from which the regulation of the

laws and the principle of representatives, was as well a great

influence to the Japanese people. The government of

constitutional monarchy of Japan was the longest traditional

monarchy recorded in World History; it can be a good form of

government to be implemented in the South-East Asian Countries

and it could as well be derogative to some countries that does

not necessarily follows the concept of constitutional

monarchy.

Disadvantage of Constitutional Monarchy

The role of the Emperor of Japan construct ceremonial powers

only, symbolizes peace, and represents the image of all

Japanese people. Moreover, the head of the government or the

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Prime Minister which is entitled to the role of governing the

government of Japan basically offers another expansion of the

federal monarchy. This federal monarchy is the essence of the

practicality of the disadvantage of the constitutional

monarchy. Meaning to say that, the implementation of the

conflicting federal essence and nature of constitutional

monarchy cannot be ascertain to be beneficiary to other

countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, Philippines, etc.

II. Assessment of Compatibility to Philippine Context

Is Japan’s Form of Government Applicable to the Philippines?

The Republican State of the Philippines, in the view of the

republicanism is not anymore suitable to be transitioned into

a Constitutional Monarchy. Reminiscing the historical People

Power or EDSA, which is recorded as the most peaceful

revolution in the whole world, manifest the impossibility of

governmental context of Japan’s Constitutional monarchy.

However, the justice system of Japan is very much valuable in

the perspective of implementing and promotion of rule of law

and justice of each and every individual of Japan. The

researcher had been observant in the concern of justice system

of Philippines. Due to the political culture of the Filipinos,

that is to say, the ignorance to political correctness and to

the adherence of self-centeredness, self-interest has always

been prevailing even since then.

III. Recommendation

Justice System of Japan, as provided in the preceding

chapter, commonly observes unique conditional mindset of the

combination of both neo-liberalism and traditional

conservativism. Hence, the researcher would like to recommend

the implementation of the political correctness and the

abolition of self-centeredness in order to promote equal and

fair justice system. In this sense, the Philippines would

learn something from the Japanese where the principle of

disallowing self-interest to prevail in all possible

governmental implementation and works.

Chapter IV

Findings, Summary, and Conclusion

 The researcher would like to present the findings by

illuminating the comparison of the Japan’s Government and

the Philippine Government. There is a necessity of adopting

the level of justice system of the Japan’s legal government.

This is due to the reason that, in order for the development

of socio-political, socio-economic, and socio-cultural of

the Philippines, this would rather contribute also to the

Philippine political and economical context.