Callista Case

Geography: Japan is off the east coast of Asia. It consists of four major islands (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu)

Government:Parliamentary[,palə'ment(ə)rɪ]with constitutional monarchy ['mɒnəkɪ]

O Prime Minister: Yoshihiko Noda (elected Aug 2011) and He is Japan's seventh Prime Minister in six years.

O Population: 127,078,679 (July 2009 est.)Japan owns almost 130million people

Now we come to the Political system in Japan, here is an outline of this part.

introduction

the present Japanese political system dated from Japan's defeat in the Second World War and its subsequent occupation by the United States.

With no doubt,Japan is a democratic country, but it is a very different kind of democracy to that prevailing in most of Europe in countries like France and Germany .The single most important reason for this is the dominant position of one party the Liberal Democratic [demə'krætɪk] Party which held power almost unbroken for more than 50 years.

politicians, bureaucrats ['bjuərəukræt] and big business is known in Japan as "the Iron Triangle".

Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people".

The Prime Minister is chosen for a term of four years, He must win a majority in the Diet in a single signed ballot and he is appointed by the Emperor, must be a civilian.

The Prime Minister chose his Cabinet. At least half of the Cabinet must be members of the Diet.

Executive power is vested in the Cabinet, which consists of the Prime Minister and 17 Ministers of State and is collectively responsible to the Diet.

THE LEGISLATIVE ['ledʒɪslətɪv] BRANCH

The Japanese legislature is called the Kokkai or Diet and is a bicameral structure.

The lower house in the Japanese political system is the Shugi-in or House of Representatives. It has 480 seats and members serve a four-year term. Of the 480 seats, 300 are elected from single-member constituencies and the other 180 are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a system of proportional representation.

The upper house in the Japanese political system is the Sangi-in or House of Councillors ['kaunsələ]. It has 242 seats and members serve a six-year term. Of the 121 members subject to election each time , 73 are elected from the 47 prefectural districts by the single transferable vote method and 48 are elected from a nationwide