JAPAN Official name: Nihon (Japan) Location: North Asia International organisations: The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, The United Nations, The World Trade Organisation Borders: None Coastline: Sea of Japan, North Pacific Ocean Land area: 377,835 Km2 Population: 126,900,000 Ethnicity: Almost the entire population is of Japanese stock. Languages: Japanese is the official language and is universally understood. Korean is the only minority language of any significance. Religion: Most Japanese observe both Shinto and Buddhist rituals. There is a small Christian minority.

Form of government: Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. Japan is divided into 47 prefectures for administrative purposes.

Capital: Tokyo
Constitution: The Constitution of Japan came into effect 3 May 1947
Head of state: Emperor Akihito, succeeded to the throne 7 January 1989. In Japan he is usually referred to as Heisei-Tenno (the "Achieving Peace" Emperor).
Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the Emperor, usually the leader of the largest party in the legislature and accountable to it.
Legislature: Japan has a bicameral legislature, the Kokkai (Parliament, known in the West for some reason as the Diet). It consists of the House of Representatives (Shugi-in), which has 480 members, elected for four-year terms. Of these 180 are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by proportional representation, and 300 are elected from single-member constituencies. The House of Councillors (Sangi-in) has 247 members. Of these 73 are elected from the 47 prefectural districts and 48 are elected from a nationwide list by proportional representation.
Electoral authority: Japanese elections are conducted by the Central Election Management Council, a body which does not appear to have a website.
Freedom House rating: Political Rights 1, Civil Liberties 2

Political history

Gen Douglas MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito

The Japanese monarchy dates back many centuries, but until 1868 political power was held by a dynasty of warlords, the Tokogawa Shoguns, who dominated successive emperors. In 1868 the Emperor Mitsuhito (Meiji-Tenno) reasserted imperial power as part of Japan's response to the challenge of the west. European institutions, including a parliament and a prime minister, were introduced in 1885. Unfortunately the European model which Japan chose to emulate was Imperial Germany, and this reinforced the conservative traditions of Japan and made genuine democracy impossible. During the reign of Hirohito (Showa-Tenno) from 1926, the military and extreme conservatives tightened their grip, leading to the establishment of an outright authoritarian regime, which invaded China in 1931 and attacked the United States and Britain in 1941.

Japan's defeat in 1945 led to American occupation led by General Douglas MacArthur, and the adoption of a liberal constitution largely written by the Americans. The Parliament was elected by universal suffrage and women were emancipated. The power of the miliary was broken. But the Cold War and the presence of a strong Communist Party led to the formation of a single conservative party which dominated Japanese politics for 40 years from 1954.

Junichiro Koizumi

Today that party, the Liberal Democratic Party, is still in power, despite frequent demonstrations of its corruption and incompetence. The LDP briefly lost office from 1994 to 1996, but since then has remained firmly in power. It is officially a conservative party, but in fact is a collection of factions representing various business interests, and largely concerned with the accumulation and distribution of money to special interest groups. The Liberal Democrats are kept in office by the weakness of their opponents. The Democratic Party has no clear programme, but at the 2003 elections it succeeded in establishing itself as the dominant opposition party, giving Japan a clear two-party system and a viable alternative government for the first time. The Japan Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party are declining relics of the old left. The Clean Government Party opposes corruption but is itself linked to unsavoury secret societies and has become an ally of the LDP, the main defenders of corruption.

Japan has been mired in recession and a crisis of institutions for over a decade, but the political system has resisted necessary reforms. Junichiro Koizumi came to power in April 2001 pledged to reform both the LDP and Japan, but he has been frustrated by conservatives in his own party.