Separation of powers
The Constitution of Japan, which came into effect in 1947, is based on the principles of popular sovereignty, respect for fundamental human rights, and the advocacy of peace. Japan 's political system is one of constitutional democracy. In accordance with the principle of "separation of powers," the activities of the national government are formally divided into legislative, judicial, and executive organs.

Emperor
The Emperor is "the symbol of the State and unity of the people." The Emperor appoints the Prime Minister and Chief Judge of the Supreme Court as designated by the Diet, and performs "only such acts in matters of state" as provided for in the Constitution along with the advice and approval of the Cabinet, such as promulgation of amendments of the constitution, laws, cabinet orders and treaties, convocation of the Diet, dissolution of the House of Representatives, and so forth.

The Diet as the legislative branch of government
Japan's Diet is designated in the Constitution as "the highest organ of state power." The Diet is made up of members who are directly elected by citizens of at least 20 years of age. The political parties, to which almost all Diet members belong, are the basic units of political activity. Thus Japan is said to practice party politics. The Prime Minister then forms a Cabinet, and the Cabinet controls the executive branch of government.

The Diet is the "sole law-making organ of the State." All legislation must follow a process leading to final approval in the Diet. The Diet has additional important functions, such as approving the national budget, ratifying international treaties, and setting in motion any formal proposals for amending the Constitution.

The Diet is divided into 2 chambers: the lower chamber, or the House of Representatives, and the upper chamber, or the House of Councillors.

Although the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives share power, the latter predominates in decisions on legislation, designation of the Prime Minister, budgetary matters, and international treaties. For example, if a bill passed by the House of Representatives by the House of Councillors deliberates otherwise (rejecting the bill or insisting on alterations), the bill will nevertheless become law if resubmitted to the House or Representatives and approved by two thirds of the members present.

One must be at least 30 years old to be elected to the House of Councillors, whose number of members is 252. Of these, 100 seats are filled on a proportional representation system and the remaining 152 are filled according to he electoral district system. All members are chosen for 6-year terms. Half of the total number are chosen every 3 years. Members of the House of Councillors remain in their positions whether or not there is dissolution of the House of Representatives.

One must be at least 25 years old to be eligible for election to the House of Representatives. The number of members of the House of Representatives is 500. Of these, 300 are chosen according to the small electoral district system whereby seats are distributed to preferred party members according to the proportion of the vote received by the party. Members of the House of Representatives are elected for 4-year terms, but the Cabinet may dissolve the House of Representatives before the end of full term, although the House of Representatives may introduce "no-confidence motions" with respect to the Cabinet.

Link to House of Councillors
Link to House of Representatives

The Cabinet and the Executive Branch of Government
The Cabinet, the majority of whose members must come from the Diet, is the supreme decision-making organ of the executive branch of government. The Prime Minister, who heads the Cabinet, has the right to appoint and dismiss ministers of state (kokumu daijin) who make up the Cabinet. He or she presides over Cabinet meetings and may exercise his or her right to control and guide the various sectors of the state administrative apparatus. So-called Cabinet resolutions are reached on the basis of unanimity of views. The Prime Minister and all members of the Cabinet must be, according to the Constitution, civilians.

The Constitution also states, "executive power shall be vested in the Cabinet." However, the Cabinet has under its control and coordination a number of ministries and other central administrative organs to which it delegates the exercise and control of many routine tasks of Japan's central government.

In addition to the Prime Minister's Office, there are 12 ministries, each headed by Ministers, a number of agencies and commissions, that have a certain degree of independent standing and are headed by Cabinet members with the rank of ministers of state.

Taken together, the Prime Minister's Office, the ministries, and various agencies and commissions are known as the central government offices (chuo shocho). At present, Japan's central government offices operate according to a system based on a pyramidal structure of rank. Responsibility for setting the boundaries of authority of the posts within each ministry and agency rests in the hands of the Cabinet members.

Public Servants
In Japan, persons who are engaged in administrative activities in the various central government offices, including vice ministers (jimu jikan) and all ordinary public servants of lesser rank, are selected on the basis of national public service examinations; their jobs are not political appointments nor are they subject to being lost as a result of political power changes at the Cabinet level.

At the end of fiscal year 1996, there were a total of 1,159,861 national public servants working in the central offices of the national government or in other jobs for which they received their salaries directly from the national governments. Those among them who were engaged in ordinary public service hobs under the National Personnel Authority pay schemes - excluding the Prime Minister, ministers of state, justices; the Defence Agency; the personnel of the courts and post offices; and printing, minting, and forestry bureaus - numbered approximately 832,000. The Constitution specifies that" all public officials are servants of the whole community and not of any group thereof."

Administrative Reform
In today's Japan, administrative reform is a big topic of discussion, and it is likely that, beginning in 2001, the central government offices will be restructured around 10 ministries (some of them bearing new names), the Defence Agency, and the National Public Safety Commission. One of the features of the proposed reforms is to establish a Cabinet Office (naikakufu), subsuming the present Prime Minister's Office, in order to strengthen the Cabinet's functions, including it capacity to respond to emergency situations. As a means of furthering administrative efficiency, the central government offices will likely be divided into sectors concerned mainly with policy-making implementation of given tasks. Some of the personnel working on the latter would be separated from the ministries and assigned to independent administrative bodies. To trim down the government apparatus, it has been decided that the number of national civil servants would be reduced by at least 10% between 2001 and 2011.

The Supreme Court
In Japan, the independent standing of the judicial branch of government is protected, and the Constitution stipulates that "no disciplinary action against judges shall be administered by any executive organ or agency." All legal conflicts, whether of a civil, administrative, or criminal nature, are subject to judgment in courts of law. Established by the Constitution, the Supreme Court is Japan's highest judicial organ. There are 4 types of lower courts, whose numbers and English designations (as of April 1997) are as follows: 8 High Courts, 50 District Courts, 50 Family Courts, and 438 Summary Courts. According to the Constitution, no so-called extraordinary tribunal is to be established, "nor shall any organ or agency of the Executive be given final judicial power."

According to Article Six of the Constitution, “the Emperor shall appoint the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court, as designated by the Cabinet,” while the Cabinet directly appoints the other 14 Supreme Court judges. To be eligible for nomination, as indicated in the Law on Courts, one must be a person “of high discernment, well grounded in law, and at least 40 years old.” A minimum of 10 members are required to have had 10 years' experience as either judge, or 20 years combined experience as the Chief Justice of the High Court or a judge, judge in a summary court, public prosecutor, lawyer, professor or assistant professor of law. All judges of the Supreme Court must be reviewed by the people in the first general election following appointments, and every 10 years thereafter. The retirement age is 70.

Supreme Court hearings and judgments are made by either the Grand Bench, which requires the presence of at least 9 court justices, or be 1 of 3 Petty benches, each consisting of from 3 to 5 justices. The Grand bench examines cases, referred by one of the Petty Benches, that involve constitutional questions, precedents, and so on.

In addition to its authority as the sole court of last resort, the Supreme Court has the authority to set rules on litigation procedures, together with other special rights of judicial administration, including the nomination of a list of persons from which the Cabinet appoints judges for the lower courts.

Japan's court system is basically a 3-trial system in which parties to a dispute-following a court hearing and decision-have the right to undergo 2 additional court hearings and decisions, as stipulated by the procedures for appeal (koso) and, ultimately, final appeal (jokoku). However, the number of court judges is small - in April 1997 there were 2,899 judges in Japan's court system-in comparison with the number of court cases submitted for judgment. As a result, court decisions usually take a long time. Consequently, there are plans to increase the number of judges, and various reforms of the judicial system are under consideration.