+ Bibliography
+ About the Speakers

RELATED TOPIC:
THE EMPEROR

RELATED TOPIC:
THE PRIME MINISTER

RELATED TOPIC:
THE JAPANESE BUREAUCRACY

RELATED TOPIC:
INTEREST GROUPS IN JAPANESE POLITICS

RELATED TOPIC:
ELECTION LAWS

RELATED TOPIC:
THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM

 
THE GOVERNMENT OF MODERN JAPAN:
THE JAPANESE DIET (PARLIAMENT)

Bicameral Legislature: The Lower House

Gerald L. Curtis :: The Japanese Diet is what is referred to as a bicameral legislature, meaning that it has two houses. The most powerful house in the Japanese Diet is the lower house. The lower house has 500 members under the new election system that was adopted in 1994, and members are elected for a term of four years.

However, if a non-confidence motion is passed on the prime minister, or if the prime minister decides to call an election, to dissolve the house and call an election before the four-year term is up, then an election is called whenever the prime minister so determines.

In fact, Japanese Diet terms tend to last an average of about two and a half to three years, and then the prime minister usually dissolves the house at a time when he thinks his party will do well in the election, and a new election is called. This, too, is very typical behavior for parliamentary systems. It is the same way that the system works in Great Britain.

[The lower house is also referred to as the House of Representatives.]