Current Affairs Of Japan

Current Affairs Of Japan

The prime minister in Japan has different powers from those of other countries. The prime minister in Japan has different roles from prime ministers in other parliamentary systems like Britain, France or Germany. The prime minister is the head of government of Japan. In Japan the prime minister ids not the president and not elected directly by the public. The prime minister is a member of the lower house of the Diet and is elected by the members of the party or even parties that are in control of the majority of the Diet. He is appointed by the emperor of Japan after being designated by the Diet from among the members. The person appointed must thereafter enjoy the confidence of the House of Representatives for him or her to remain in office. The prime minister is the head of cabinet and appoints and dismisses the ministers of state. For one to qualify to be a prime minister they must be a member of the house of Diet. This implies a minimum age of 25 and one to be a Japanese nationality y and a civilian. This means that anyone serving in the Japanese self-defense forces and any member of imperial Japanese navy and strongly connected to militarist

A prime minister is designated by both houses of the Diet; before they can start conducting any business for this purpose it is mandatory for everyone to conduct a ballot under the run-off system. Incase two houses choose different people then there is appointment of a joint committee whose function is to agree on a common candidate. Incase the two houses fail to agree within ten days the decision of the House of Representatives is taken as that of the Diet. In this case it can be said that the House of Representatives can ensure that they always appoint any prime minister they wish. Formal appointment follows from the office of the Emperor. Incase a motion of no confidence is adopted by the House of Representatives or a defeats a vote of confidence the prime minister is forced to resign unless the house of representatives is dissolved within ten days.

Mr.koizumi was seen as a remarkable thing as he survived for three terms. This feat has not been achieved since Yasuhiro Nakasone who was the prime minister between 1982 and 1987.Mr.Koizumi was famous for his laid back style and mane of bushy hair he presided over the Liberal Democratic Party with light effective touch until he stepped down remarkably. The baton was handed on to Shinzo Abe who lasted for just a year he was a thoughtful leader who failed to distinguish or impose him on the politics in Japan but was hampered by ill health in the office. The next one to take the hot seat was Yasuo Fukuda who claimed he would be unable to break the deadlock in the politics in Japan when he resigned just a couple of days short of a whole year in office (Ryall, 2011).The next person to be on the chopping board was Taro Aso who was a right-wing member of the LDP and went down in the political history as the party leader who lost the election more than sixty years of uninterrupted LDP rule in Japan. Hatoyoma was the one who won the momentous general election from the Democratic Party and he turned out as one loosely beholden to the back seat when compared to other politicians who had come previously and he managed only ten months in office he was one political star who fell very fast without considering that when had been elected with an overwhelming mandated and an initial support rate of 74%but this dwindled to 17% in his last week in power he did not make nay genuine stab at reforming and rebuilding the country throughout his ten months in when he paved way for Naoto Kan to take over. He was an honest and earnest man and has been able to bring out the changes that had envisaged due to the fractured nature of the political party that he oversaw normally. Therefore anyone who comes next has the mighty take of rebuilding the DPJ, fending off the opposition, getting the country’s economy back on track bringing the worst nuclear accident since Chemobyl under control and rebuilding areas devasted by March 11 natural disaster (Ryall, 2011).

Without considering the political hue of the prime ministers in Japan over the recent years they have one thing in common which is they do not stay in their office for along time. They have had not fewer than five prime ministers in the past six years. The reason might be the fact that the country has a powerful press who are hostile to prime ministers. For instance Naoto Kan has been criticized for lack of leadership. He has been described as hen-pecking to bureaucrats and the United States. He has also been ridiculed by the media as being timid to Ichiro Ozawa that is said by media to be self-righteous, corrupt, power hungry political operator. This prime ministers have been portrayed in such a manner by the media and this has resulted to negative image of the leaders in the people. This information by the Japan media of the prime ministers might not be accurate or trust worthy but they just seem too hostile to powerful politicians. They believe that they are not promoting democracy by they way they present any politician as arrogant and stupid. However this can not be blamed entirely on the Japanese media since powerful and hostile to politicians is nota monopoly after all other countries too have powerful Medias. But if the media was free from conformism then there would be no problem. The major problem about the Japanese media is the fact that they say same things the major daily newspapers are similar to each other on the attitude they have to politicians. They view politicians as either stupid, arrogant, corrupt, bureaucrats, elitish or selfish. It is also a peculiar fact that the Japanese media only report on what the government does and they completely ignore what the opposition parties are saying people read many articles about the government but nothing at all about the opposition parties. They always say that the government is stupid no matter what they do. The opinion polls always show that there is low support for the government.

The state of Japanese politics at the moment is that parties are splintering into factions, fluid alliances that often change on a whim and the influence of few people who broke powers and are the ones who pull strings behind the scenes. Therefore it is expected that anyone brave enough to take on the poisoned chalice of being the leader of the country will not make it past their first anniversary in the bulkpost. The biggest failure to the Japanese government has been for the parities to turn out a genuine statesman that is blessed with a common touch.

Another reason to consider when looking at why the prime ministers have a short term in office ids the fact that politicians in japans political centre Nagata-Cho have taken interest in opinion polls and are significantly responding to them that are currently being carried out more often than in the past media has been repeating the message that the cabinet approval rating are going towards danger zone if it drops below 30%.this public opinion polls have most likely encouraged the short tenures of the prime ministers, however the upper house elections have also set the stage for the changing prime ministers. In Japan, half of the upper house members are re-elected once every three years. This schedule differs from that of elections of Lower House members who hold terms of four years. This implies that national elections are usually held at least six times in twelve years even if the lower house is not dissolved. The separate voting days for both houses have an important implication in the political dynamics behind the change of prime ministers. Even if prime ministers earn the trust of citizens in the general elections they ultimately face public examination. For a prime minister to remain in power they have to overcome the challenge of the upper house elections considered to be more difficult then lower house elections. Therefore the party that is in power at that time has to ensure that they overcome this mid-election challenge. In Japan one does not have to be the prime minister for them to influence government policies. Some of the prime ministers were used as puppets (Hino, 2011).

The major political parties in Japan are Liberal Democratic Party that has been dominant for more than forty years. The party’s base has been conservative that ranges from pro-imperial rightists to bring big business groups despite its name. The LDP dominated the politics in Japan from 1955-1993 using a mix of pork-barrel politics and status quo policies that have protected the business interests, voters became disillusioned with the LDP due to the economic problems and the party filed to achieve a majority in the parliament in 1993.a multi-party coalition assumed control an diet was led by Morihiro Hosokawa.LDP returned to power in June 1994 n a coalition that was unpresidented.LDP then reclaimed the prime ministers seat as Ryutaro Hashimoto replaced his JSP coalition partner, Tomiivhi Murayama was not able to stimulate the economy of the country Hashimoto resigned after his party showed in the upper house elections in 1998.LDP then controlled 101 seats in the upper house and 263 seats in the lower house (The Washington bulkpost Company,1998).

Democratic Party is another political party in Japan .it was founded in 1996 by members of the social democratic party and Shin-to Sakigake. This became the largest opposition group in the diet, japans bicameral legislature after the dissolution of the New Frontier party. In 1998 the party picked more members when they merged with three smaller parties++.its then leader Naoto Kan led them to a big win in the 1998 upper house elections.kan was the most popular politician at that time and led the fight to pull out of office LDP’s then prime minister Hashimoto. The views of the party progressive and centralistic that seek open markets, great deregulation and great tax cuts. This party now controls 47 seats in the upper house and 92 in the lower house (The Washington bulkpost Company, 1998).

Social democratic party Is the main opposition party in Japan for decades now. Socialists took advantage of the way voters were dissatisfied with the liberal Democratic Party in early 1990 and formed part of the coalition government. The coalition was dissolved and the party entered into what was the most unexpected coalition with its arch rival LDP to stay in power. The socialist led government by prime minster Tomichii lasted 1994-1996 when LDP reclaimed the majority control in the coalition this party has traditionally relied on unions for its support has its popularity wane over the past few years. It now controls 13 seats in the upper house and 15 in the lower house.

The liberal party is a splinter party that came into existence after the breakup of the New Frontier party in 1997 that was led by the outspoken Ichiro Ozawa, this party took over the basic philosophies and policies.ozawa has been a proponent of real reforms for quite sometime now and has had an espousing the need for Japan to become a nation with regulations from the government and more participation in international affairs. This party now controls 12 seats in the upper house and 40 seats in the lower house.

The communist party is one of the oldest parties in Japan it was founded around 1922 as a group that was underground. This party has faced marginalization in eth politics of Japan for sometime. It has taken unpopular stances on issues like opposition of US Japan security alliance. This party was a chief beneficiary in of the vote of the upper house. Analysts argue that the reason was not so much since the Japanese are in favor for the communist style of governance but since the communist only represents the one party that is seemed to be organized and thoughtful about its policies. This party now controls 12 seats in the upper house and 26 seats in the lower house.

Heiwa Kaikaku was formed fro the breaking up of the New Frontier Party. Most of the members are from Komei to clean government party. They get their support from the enigmatic but huge religious group .the party tends to be centrist and generally independent continuing to enjoy the support of soka-gakkai that has members who are over 15 million. It controls 47 seats in the lower house. This party is sister to Komei that was formed as a political arm of the Soka-Gakkai a large religious organization. It controls 22 seats in the lower house (The Washington bulkpost Company, 1998).

Sakigake was formed in 1993 by 10 parties that broke away from the lower house members.in the same year it joined the coalition government and was led by Monihiro Hosokawas New party that replaced LDP in the new government (The Washington bulkpost Company, 1998).

References

The Washington bulkpost Company. (1998). Major Political Parties in Japan. Retrieved December 10, 2012 from http://www.washingtonbulkpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/japan/japanparties.htmThomson Reuters. (2012). A look at the parties contesting Japan’s Dec 16 election. Retrieved December 10, 2012 from http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/the-parties-contesting-japans-dec-16-electionJain, P. (2012.) .EastAsiaForum.‘Third force’ parties crowd Japan’s political scene. Retrieved December 10, 2012 from http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2012/12/06/third-force-parties-crowd-japans-national-political-scene/World press. (2010).Short-living Japanese prime ministers. Retrieved December 10, 2012 from http://musasabi2010.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/shot-living-japanese-prime-ministers/Ryall, J. (2011). The Telegraph. Japanese prime ministers do not tend to stick around for long .Retrieved December 10, 2012 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8551931/Japanese-prime-ministers-do-not-tend-to-stick-around-for-long.htmlWorld press.(2011). Six Prime Ministers in 5 years – why Japanese Prime Ministers are so short-lived. Retrieved December 10, 2012 from http://infocus.asiaportal.info/2011/09/06/six-prime-ministers-in-5-years-why-japanese-prime-ministers-are-so-short-lived/Hino, A.(2011).Daily Yomiuri online. Why do Prime Ministers Change before Upper House Elections? Retrieved December 10, 2012 from http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/adv/wol/dy/opinion/gover-eco_100705.htm