Asian Topics on Asia for Educators || The Government of Modern Japan: The Prime Minister

THE GOVERNMENT OF MODERN JAPAN:
THE PRIME MINISTER
Short Terms in Office

Gerald L. Curtis :: Another reason why the prime minister has tended to be less powerful in Japan than in other parliamentary systems, not to mention than in an American-type of presidential system, is that they’ve remained in office for relatively short periods of time.

Particularly in the 1990s, there was a change of prime minister almost every year. But even going back to the 1960s, and 1970s, and 1980s, Japanese prime ministers changed much more frequently than was true in a lot of other countries, so that the prime minister wasn’t in power long enough to really develop a great deal of personal political power.