Diet Of Japan Composition Powers Activities History

The Constitution of Japan does not specify the number of members of each house of the Diet, the voting system, or the necessary qualifications of those who may vote or be returned in parliamentary elections, allowing all of these things to be determined by law. However it does guarantee universal adult suffrage and a secret ballot. It also insists that the electoral law must not discriminate in terms of "race, creed, sex, social status, family origin, education, property or income".

The House of Representatives has 480 members elected on the same day for four year terms. The House of Councillors has 252 members who serve six year terms; one half of its number are elected once every three years. The franchise for elections to either house is open to all citizens who are at least twenty years of age (the age of majority in Japan). Membership of the Diet is open to citizens who are at least twenty-five in the case of the House of Representatives and thirty in the case of the upper house, and no one may be a member of both houses at the same time. Each house has authority to adjudicate in disputes as to the qualifications of its members, however no member may be disqualified from their seat except by the vote of a two-thirds majority.

Both houses of the Diet are elected under a parallel voting system. This means that the seats to be filled in any given election are divided into two groups, each elected by a different method. Voters are also asked to cast two votes: one for an individual candidate in a constituency, and one for a party list. Japan's parallel voting system is not to be confused with the Additional Member System used in many other nations.

See also: List of members of the Diet of JapanHouse of Councillors Note: This list does not reflect the house's composition following the July 2004 election. Liberal Democratic Party (115 members) Masatoshi Abe Jiro Aichi Issei Anan Mikio Aoki Shogo Arai Akito Arima Haruko Arimura Yukio Dammoto Chuic

2 Powers

In most circumstances, in order to become law a bill must be first be passed by both houses of the Diet and then promulgated by the EmperorThe Emperor of Japan (, tenno is Japan's titular head of state and the head of the Japanese imperial family. From the dawn of history until the mid-twentieth century the role of the Emperor has alternated between that of a high-rank cleric with largely sy. This role of the Emperor is analagous to the Royal AssentThe granting of Royal Assent is the formal method by which a Sovereign or the Sovereign's representative in the United Kingdom and in Commonwealth Realms completes the process of the enactment of legislation by formally assenting to an Act of Parliament. in some other nations, however the Emperor cannot refuse to promulgate a law and therefore his legislative role is merely a formality.

The House of Representatives is the most powerful chamber of the Diet. While the House of Representatives cannot usually overrule the House of Councillors on a bill, the House of Councillors can only delay the adoption of a budget or a treaty that has been approved by the House of Representatives, and the House of Councillors has almost no power at all to prevent the lower house from selecting any Prime Minister it wishes. Furthermore, once appointed it is the confidence of the House of Representatives alone that the Prime Minister must enjoy in order to continue in office. The House of Representatives can overrule the upper house in the following circumstances:

3 Activities

Under the constitution at least one session of the Diet must be convoked each year. Technically only the House of Representatives is dissolved before an election but while the lower house is in dissolution the House of Councillors is usually 'closed'. The Emperor both convokes the Diet and dissolves the House of Representatives but in doing must act on the advice of the Cabinet. In an emergency the Cabinet can convoke the Diet for an extraordinary session, and an extraordinary session may be requested by one quarter of the members of either house. At the beginning of each parliamentary session the Emperor reads a special speech outlining the government's plans for the coming year from his throne in the chamber of the House of Councillors (see Speech from the ThroneQueen Beatrix of The Netherlands reads her country's Speech from the Throne The Speech from the Throne sometimes referred to by the shorter term Throne Speech is an event in certain monarchies in which the monarch (or a represenative) reads a prepared spe).

The presence of one third of the membership of either house constitutes a quorum and deliberations are in public unless at least two-thirds of those present agree otherwise. Each house elects its own presiding officer who exercises the casting vote in the event of a tie. Members of each house have certain protections against arrest while the Diet is in session and words spoken and votes cast in the Diet enjoy parliamentary privilege. Each house of the Diet determines its own standing orders and has responsibility for discplining its own members. A member may be expelled, but only by a two-thirds majority vote. Every member of the Cabinet has the right to appear in either house of the Diet for the purpose of speaking on bills, and each house has the right to compel the appearance of Cabinet members.

4 History

Japan's first modern legislature was the Imperial Diet established by the Meiji constitution in force from 1889- 1947. The Meiji Constitution was adopted on February 11, 1889 and the Imperial Diet first meet on November 29, 1890 when the document entered into operation. The Diet consisted of a House of Representatives and a House of Peers. The House of Representatives was directly elected, if on a limited franchise; universal adult male suffrage was introduced in 1925. The House of Peers, much like the British House of Lords, consisted of high ranking nobles.

The word diet derives from Latin and was a common name for an assembly in Medieval Germany. The Meiji constitution was largely based on the form of constitutional monarchy found in nineteenth century Prussia and the new Diet was modelled partly on the German Reichstag and partly on the British Westminster system. Unlike Japan's modern constitution, the Meiji constitution granted a real political role to the Emperor, although in practice the Emperor's powers were largely directed by a group of oligarchs called the genro.

To become law a bill or constitutional amendment had to have the assent of both the Diet and the Emperor. This meant that while the Emperor could no longer legislate by decree he still had a veto over the Diet. The Emperor also had complete freedom in choosing the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, and so, under the Meiji constitution, Prime Ministers often were not chosen from and did not enjoy the confidence of the Diet. The Imperial Diet was also limited in its control over the budget. While the Diet could veto the annual budget, if no budget was approved the budget of the previous year continued in force.

The Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947, created a more democratic system and renamed the legislature to the National Diet. Under the document the franchise was extended to women for the first time and the House of Peers was abolished and replaced with the directly elected House of Councillors. The Emperor was reduced to his current, purely ceremonial role, and the Diet declared the "highest organ of the state power" (Article 41). Prior to 1994 all Diet elections occurred under the Single Non-Transferable Vote system. In 1994 this was replaced with the current parallel system.

5 Related topics

6 External link

National Diet Library: Diet and Parliaments has the Diet minutes (In Japanese) and additional information.
House of Councillors - official website
House of Representatives - official website

National legislatures Japanese law

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1 Composition