Japanese Politics : Japan 's Political System

The United States’ and Japan’s political systems have some similarities and differences. The United States has a federal government, which in our textbook is defined as “a system of government in which power is divided, by a constitution, between a central government and regional governments.” Japan has a unitary government which is defined as, “a centralized government system in which lower levels of government have little power independent of the national government.” Some of the similarities in the political systems are that both governments are broken into three branches (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial). Also, they both elect their political leaders, and value the opinion of their citizens and institutions to determine leaders. The

The system’s notable elements mainly consisted in anti-labor and pro-business policies that protected the home market from outside influence with low levels of social welfare spending, making Japan pass through a growth period though, at the same time, such system presented cases of Diet’s unconstitutionalism, corruption scandals, and a lack of organization in more than one aspect.

The international frustration combined with the Great Depression, radically changed Japanese political life (Slackman 4). Moreover, Japanese officers grew increasingly skeptical of the government’s ability to deal with the crisis (Slackman 4). Between fear and doubt

Article 9. The Diet shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Every person shall have freedom of religious belief, and the special privileges that every shrine has ever had shall be abolished.

After centuries of living in seclusion to the outside world, the government knew that they needed the technological advancements that the West offered. The Industrial Revolution and growing urbanisation in Japan had intended to and succeeded in mimicking Western growth. Moreover, the Japanese were well-known for their diligence, discipline, perseverance, and hard work – this resulted in substantial economic development including increased shipping of commodities and a significant expansion of trade and handicraft industries. However, the political elite pocketed most of the profits through influence and corruption. Workers and farmers found it unfair that their patriotic and back-breaking labour only received a little wage in comparison, but with a state-controlled media and education system, they couldn’t make their voices heard. So overall, this collective and nationalistic open-mindedness for communal prosperity was beneficial for Japan as a whole, but the common people were disadvantaged with no access to basic human rights and a fair

The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan adopted in 1947. It is an unitary state, containing forty-seven administrative divisions, with the Emperor as its head of state. His role is ceremonial and he has no powers related to Government. Instead, it is the Cabinet, composing of the Ministers of State and the Prime Minister, that directs and controls the Government. The Cabinet is the source of power of the Executive branch, and is formed by the Prime Minister, who is the head of government. It is an unitary state, containing forty- seven administrative divisions, with the Emperor as its head of state. Japan was ruled by successive military shoguns. During this period, effective power of the government resided in the Shogun, who officially ruled the country in the name of the Emperor. The Shoguns were the hereditary military Governors.

Japan was more concerned about keeping order. This helps prove that the differences between European and Japanese feudalism made limited government more likely to develop in the West because order is should be the main priority of a government. “There are also reports [of] vagabonds from gangs[,] [who] treat villages as if they were their own possessions.”7 This helps prove that Japan was more concerned about keeping order because Japan doesn't want people who wander around from place to place causing disorder. With these vagabonds all around the streets, Japan would be very disastrous. “When a newly appointed governor travels to....[where] he is assigned, some of his entourage and other followers either rob things from other [people] or engage in quarrels[.]”8 This helps prove Japan was more concerned about keeping order because if the government is the one who is causing the crimes, it would give people the idea that it is OK to do it also, which may cause an increase in crimes and violence. The governor's entourage is supposed to be keeping order but they are the ones who are robbing people and also causing commotions with others. The government is being a bad role model. They are supposed to set a good example but now,

These two states have vast similarities in how their governments later formed. With the United States, governmental design was self-conscious and planned, while Japan underwent many governmental evolutions to become the state it is today. Furthermore, these two studies dive into what truly makes a strong, weak, and failing state as Japan’s economy is the weakest indicator on the Failed State Index, yet it still reigns as an exceptionally strong

From monarchy to communism, passing by dictatorship, each country has a government of its own. In the world, there are about 200 countries in total, meaning that there are some similarities and differences in their specific government. If one was to pick out two different countries and compare its types of leadership, one might get a different result than other. Ever heard this quote by Tom Robbins, “Our similarities bring us to a common ground; our differences allow us to be fascinated by each other?” Well, nothing could be of more truth then that quote when comparing two different countries. This essay is a comparison between the Canadian government and the Japanese government.

The political structures that govern our society are not always easy to identify. The complex nature of legislature processes creates environments that are conducive to specialized and targeted means of acquiring power. There are many reasons why secret cabals of power have seemingly taken the effectiveness out of our democratic processes. Most of these reasons can be indentified through the phenomenon of special interest groups and the impact on law, society and economy that these forces exert.

The riots that marked this Taisho¯ political crisis go a long way toward explaining why Hara accepted a compromise that betrayed the hopes of hardline advocates of “constitutional government.” On one hand Hara insisted that landlords and business leaders deserved a political voice through their representatives such as his Seiyu¯kai party. But no less than his rivals in the bureaucracy or military such as Katsura or Yamagata, he was terrified by the specter of aroused and politically focused masses. He did not want to encourage them or their leaders. Such fear was not paranoia. The first twenty years of the twentieth century not only saw the Diet and its representatives win seats at the table of elite politics but were also a time of chronic

Currently in the world there are 196 countries, each one with unique qualities and political structures. Japan is an island nation in East Asia that is located in the Pacific Ocean. It has a total of 6, 852 islands that make up about ninety seven percent of Japan’s land area. It is the world’s tenth largest population with 126 million people. The emperor ran the country until it was forced to surrender and the United States assisted in the reform of the country. Currently, Japan is a democracy with a constitution that used the structure of the United States as a model. It uses the three-branch system, however, one of its branches drastically outweighs the other two in regards to power. This developed nation has many aspects of it government

Japan is not only a major economic power, it is one of the most economically developed countries in the world. Japan’s economic development begun between the 12th and 17th century, in a period of time that the Japanese refer to as the Edo period. Although specific economic structures didn’t exist at the time, the conditions, both socially and politically, set the Japanese up for a later successful industrialization and modernization. During the Edo period, the ruling government was known as the bakufu. The bakufu had absolute political power over smaller, local governments, however, they lacked a consistent economic stance. Therefore, the local governments, known as the han, were allowed to decide how their people would be taxed, and how administration would work, along with education, industrialization, and issuing paper currency as long as it was not directly prohibited by the bakufu.

In the United States we can be so self-absorbed and have no regard for other people and their feelings and well-being, it is a distinguishable norm for American society at this point. We always ask ourselves “What do I want?” or “What can I gain from this?”, but we never ask ourselves “What do they want?” or “What can they gain from this?” This is where Japan separates itself from the United States. The people in Japan hold such high esteem for everyone they know and meet, while we can hardly treat the person next to us with even the smallest amount of admiration and generosity.

     Over the past fifty years Japan has seen significant changes in all aspects of its society and the way it interacts with the outside world. For example, despite suffering a defeat in World War II, Japan soon became one of Asia’s greatest economic powers. In Japan in Transformation, 1952 - 2000, Jeffrey Kingston focuses on various aspects of change in Japanese society and politics in the period after World War II. These include the effect of the US occupation, analysis of postwar politics, the economic boom, changes in demographics, the treatment of women, and foreign policy and security issues.