Asian Topics on Asia for Educators || The Government of Modern Japan: The Japanese Diet (Parliament)

THE GOVERNMENT OF MODERN JAPAN:
THE JAPANESE DIET (PARLIAMENT)
The Role of the Opposition Party

Parliament Video Clip

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Gerald L. Curtis :: One of the major functions for the Diet is to give the opposition parties an opportunity to stop legislation from being passed that they vigorously oppose. Under the "1955 System," in which the LDP [Liberal Democratic Party] was the only party in power for thirty-eight years, in theory the LDP could pass any legislation it wanted to pass, since it had a majority. But in fact because of the way in which the Japanese Diet is organized, and because of some of the traditions that go back as far as 1890, the opposition parties have the ability to slow down the process, in effect to paralyze the process, so that no legislation can get passed if they are determined to stop some particular law from being adopted.

So in the real world of Japanese politics, the LDP has been forced to compromise with the opposition parties, to withdraw legislation that the opposition parties vigorously opposed in order to get other legislation passed. So one of the roles of the Japanese Diet has been to give the opposition, to be an arena in which the opposition has been able to stop the LDP from passing some legislation.

And that has been particularly true for legislation concerning Japanese military affairs. The opposition parties have opposed increasing the size of the Japanese armed forces, spending more money on Japanese military development, and whenever the LDP has tried to pass legislation to do those things, the opposition has been able to stop it from doing so.