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GOVERNMENT
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Japan
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Country
Name:
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conventional
long form: none
conventional short form: Japan |
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Government
Type:
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constitutional
monarchy |
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Administrative
Divisions:
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47
prefectures; Aichi, Akita, Aomori, Chiba, Ehime, Fukui, Fukuoka,
Fukushima, Gifu, Gumma, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Hyogo, Ibaraki, Ishikawa,
Iwate, Kagawa, Kagoshima, Kanagawa, Kochi, Kumamoto, Kyoto, Mie,
Miyagi, Miyazaki, Nagano, Nagasaki, Nara, Niigata, Oita, Okayama,
Okinawa, Osaka, Saga, Saitama, Shiga, Shimane, Shizuoka, Tochigi,
Tokushima, Tokyo, Tottori, Toyama, Wakayama, Yamagata, Yamaguchi,
Yamanashi |
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Independence:
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660
BC (traditional founding by Emperor Jimmu) |
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National
Holiday:
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Birthday
of the Emperor, 23 December (1933) |
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Constitution:
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3
May 1947 |
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Legal
System :
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modeled
after European civil law system with English-American influence;
judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; accepts
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations |
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Suffrage:
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20
years of age; universal |
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Executive
Branch:
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chief
of state: Emperor AKIHITO (since 7 January 1989)
head of government: Prime Minister Yoshiro MORI (since
5 April 2000)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the prime minister
elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; the Diet designates
the prime minister; the constitution requires that the prime minister
must command a parliamentary majority, therefore, following legislative
elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority
coalition in the House of Representatives usually becomes prime
minister
note: on 3 April 2000, Prime Minister Keizo OBUCHI suffered
a stroke and was relieved of his duties; Chief Cabinet Secretary
Mikio AOKI became acting prime minister; on 5 April 2000, Yoshiro
MORI was elected prime minister by a vote in both houses of the
Diet, receiving 137 out of 244 votes cast in the House of Councillors
ans 335 out of 488 votes cast in the House of Representatives
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Legislative
Branch:
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bicameral
Diet or Kokkai consists of the House of Councillors or Sangi-in
(252 seats; one-half of the members elected every three years
- 76 seats of which are elected from the 47 multi-seat prefectural
districts and 50 of which are elected from a single nationwide
list with voters casting ballots by party; members elected by
popular vote to serve six-year terms) and the House of Representatives
or Shugi-in (500 seats - 200 of which are elected from 11 regional
blocks on a proportional representation basis and 300 of which
are elected from 300 single-seat districts; members elected by
popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: House of Councillors - last held 12 July 1998
(next to be held NA July 2001); House of Representatives - last
held 20 October 1996 (next to be held by October 2000)
election results: House of Councillors - percent of vote
by party - NA; seats by party - LDP 102, DPJ 47, JCP 23, Komeito
22, SDP 13, Liberal Party 12, independents 26, others 7; note
- the distribution of seats as of December 1999 is as follows
- LDP 105, DPJ 57, Komeito 24, JCP 23, SDP 13, Liberal Party 12,
independents 6, others 12; House of Representatives - percent
of vote by party - NA; seats by party - LDP 240, NFP 142, DPJ
52, JCP 26, SDP 15, Sun Party 10, others 15; note - the distribution
of seats as of December 1999 is as follows - LDP 267, DPJ 93,
Komeito/Reform Club 48, Liberal Party 39, JCP 26, SDP 14, independents
9, others 4 |
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Judicial
Branch:
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Supreme
Court, chief justice is appointed by the monarch after designation
by the cabinet, all other justices are appointed by the cabinet
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Political
Parties and Leaders:
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Democratic
Party of Japan or DPJ [Yukio HATOYAMA, leader, Tsutomu HATA, secretary
general]; Japan Communist Party or JCP [Tetsuzo FUWA, chairman,
Kazuo SHII, secretary general]; Komeito [Takenori KANZAKI, president,
Tetsuzo FUYUSHIBA, secretary general]; Liberal Democratic Party
or LDP [Yoshiro MORI, president, Hiromu NONAKA, secretary general];
Liberal Party [Ichiro OZAWA, president, Hirohisa FUJII, secretary
general]; Reform Club [Tatsuo OZAWA, leader, Katsuyuki ISHIDA,
secretary general]; Social Democratic Party or SDP [Takako DOI,
chairperson, Sadao FUCHIGAMI, secretary general]
note: subsequent to the last legislative elections, the
New Frontier Party or NFP and the Sun Party disbanded; in late
1997, the LP was formed by former NFP members; the DPJ was formed
by former members of the SDP and Sakigake and, in April 1998,
was joined by three additional parties which had formed after
the NFP disbanded; New Peace Party and Komei merged to form Komeito
in November 1998 |
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International
Organization Participation:
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AfDB,
APEC, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE (observer), CERN (observer),
CP, EBRD, ESCAP, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO,
ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO,
Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, NAM (guest),
NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE (partner), PCA, UN,
UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNRWA, UNU, UPU,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC |
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Flag
Description:
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white
with a large red disk (representing the sun without rays) in the
center |
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