Comparing Japan & the UK

The Japanese political system is a Constitutional Monarchy that is dictated by the Constitution of Japan. The constitution was written by American civilian officials working during the Allied occupation of Japan in 1947. It replaced the original constitution known as the Meiji Constitution with a system very similar to the UK. In terms of government, there are three main bodies, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary.

The Head of State is the Emperor, a monarch, whose role is purely ceremonial. The Executive in practise is actually run by the Head of Government, also known as the Prime Minister and their Cabinet, also known as the Ministers of State. The Cabinet is called the Cabinet of Japan and oversees the daily governing and dictating of specific government departments. Currently, the Japanese government is a coalition government between the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Komeito party, meaning that the Cabinet consists mostly of LDP members and one member of the Komeito party. Ministers of State include the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, Minister of Justice, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance etc. They have many explicit powers, such as the execution of the law, the conduction of foreign affairs, the administration of the civil service and the drafting of the budget. The LDP is the biggest and most elected party in Japan and since the year 1955, Japan has been a dominant party system.

This is proven by the fact that of the thirty-one Prime Ministers who have been appointed, twenty-four of them have been members of the LDP. In the current Kishida Cabinet, there is one Minister from the Komeito Party, Tetsuo Saito, who is the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

The Japanese legislature is a bicameral system, meaning there are two houses. The legislative body as a whole is known as the National Diet, the lower house is known as the House of Representatives and the upper house is known as the House of Councillors. In the House of Councillors there are 248 seats, 118 of which are held by the LDP. To be elected to the House of Councillors, one must be a Japanese national above the age of thirty. The House of Representatives has 465 seats. Although it is the ‘lower house’, it is more powerful than the House of Councillors. It can override the vetoes on bills imposed by the other house if it has a two-thirds majority. Unlike the House of Councillors, one must be over the age of twenty-five to run for office in the House of Representatives. The dominant party again is the LDP, with 261 seats. The second biggest party in Japan and in both houses is the Central Democratic Party (CDP) who have 39 seats in the House of Councillors and 96 seats in the House of Representatives. Elections for the House of Councillors are every three years; however, they are staggered so that only half of the councillors are up for election every three years, meaning that councillors must serve a six-year term. Of the 121 members up for election every three years, 73 are elected from 45 districts by single non-transferrable vote (SNTV). SNTV is an electoral system that is used to elect multiple members from one area, ‘district’ in this case. It is exactly like firstpast-the-post (FPTP), used in UK general elections, but multiple members are elected in each district. The other 48 are elected from a whole country list, by proportional representation. Elections for the House of Representatives are held every four years and a semi-proportional, mixed electoral system is used to elect members. 60% of the seats in the House of Representatives are elected by first-past-the-post because they are single member constituencies. The other 186 members are elected by a party list system of proportional representation. This results in eleven regional blocs that each have between 6 – 30 members of the House of Representatives depending on how large the region is and how populous it is. To vote in either election, you must be a Japanese national of at least 18 years of age. This was recently changed in 2016, from 20 to 18.

The Prime Minister (PM) is currently Fumio Kishida, who became PM on the 4th of October 2021. He is the President of the Liberal Democratic Party and has been a Member of the House of Representatives for the 1st Hiroshima District since the 20th of October 1996. Under former PM Shinzo Abe, Kishida was the Minister for Foreign Affairs for five years. In Japan, the PM is appointed by the National Diet. To be elected they must be a member of the House of the Diet. The PM is nominated by either both houses of the Diet, or just the House of Representatives. As the House of Representatives is more powerful than the House of Councillors, if they cannot settle on a particular person in ten days, the person nominated by the House of Representatives automatically becomes the PM. This means that the PM is most likely a member of the majority party, and therefore, most likely a member of the LDP. This is because they have lots of seats in the House of Representatives and can therefore nominate the most powerful person in their party.

There are many similarities between the United Kingdom’s political system and that of Japan. Japan uses first-past-the-post (FPTP) to elect 60% of the members of the House of Representatives, this is modelled off the UK who also uses FPTP to elect all members of the House of Commons. Additionally, the Japanese use a bicameral system, and have an upper and a lower House. These may have different names to the UK, but it is the same system as the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Similarly, the House of Representatives in Japan may be the lower house, but it has more power, exactly like the House of Commons in the UK. The House of Commons can override votes and amendments on bills made by the House of Lords despite being the ‘lower’ house. Another clear similarity between the two countries is the relationship between the Head of State and the government.

In both countries, a monarch rules but the role is mostly ceremonial.. Just like the UK, the head of government in Japan is known as the Prime Minister. The PM and their Cabinet is given the power that the monarch used to have, and is able to exercise many different powers via the Emperor.

These powers include the promulgation of the amendment of the Constitution of Japan, laws, Cabinet Orders and Treaties, assembly of the Diet, dissolution of the House of Representatives and the reception of foreign ambassadors and ministers. The PM has the power to dismiss and appoint ministers, which is very similar to the powers of Patronage that the Prime Minister of the UK has. Moreover, the Japanese PM must be a member of the Diet, just as the PM in the UK must also be a member of Parliament. There are also a few differences between the Japanese political system and the UK’s political system, as to be expected. The Constitution of Japan is codified and entrenched, whereas the UK’s constitution is uncodified and unentrenched. Moreover, when it comes to elections, Japan uses a semi-proportional mixed electoral system whereas the UK uses a non-proportional, nonmixed electoral system. This means that Japan has more proportional electoral results, as well as using FPTP, they also use a proportional party list system and SNTV, unlike the UK which uses just FPTP. Overall, three electoral systems are used to elect members to the Diet whereas only one is used in the UK.

On the whole, it would seem that Japan and the UK have much in common when it comes to their political systems which may be unsurprising, due to the fact that Japan’s modern political system is mainly modelled on the UKs. The fact that the Head of Government is also known as the Prime Minister in Japan and the idea of bicameralism in Parliament is also exactly the same as the UK. The only differences being that there are far fewer seats in Japan’s National Diet than the UK’s Parliament and the use of differing electoral systems. Japan uses a more proportional system that includes using three electoral systems whereas the UK uses only one electoral system that is non-proportional. Although, overall, there are definitely more similarities than differences.