Judicial Function, Media, Presidential and Parliamentary System in Japan - Case Study Example

Student’s Name Tutor’s Name Course Date Japan or Switzerland The State of Japan Japan is an independent state located in the Pacific Ocean, East of Asia. It has a population of 127 million people and covers an area of 377,835 sq. km. The inhabitants of Japan are called the Japanese and the most dominant religions practiced here are the Buddhism, Shinto and Christianity. 99 percent of the Japanese are literate. Other interesting facts include having a $ 34,300 per Capita GDP Presidential/Parliamentary System Japan has a parliamentary system of government with a constitutional monarchy. The people are the ones who vote in members of the government, contrary to the past where the Emperor vested all the sovereignty. The government is run by a parliamentary democracy in which there exist two houses of parliament. The lower house is called the House of Representatives while the upper house is called the House of Councilors. The prime minister together with the members of the cabinet forms the cabinet. Incidentally, they all must be civilians. As the Chief Executive Officer of the cabinet, the prime minister is tasked with the responsibility of appointing the members of the cabinet. He or she is also required to be a member of the Diet just like the majority of the cabinet members (Schoppa 1). Executive Function The political system in Japan is based on the fusion of power between the executive, parliamentary and judicial relationships. The Prime Minister is both the head of the executive and the leader of the majority party in parliament. He is elected indirectly by the parliament and appoints the members of the cabinet. The cabinet on its part is charged with the responsibility of day to day running of various ministries of the state besides implementing the policies of the ruling party. Members of the cabinet are usually drawn from the Diet. They are mostly composed of senior members of the party with majority representations. In a case where there is no one-party majority, the members of the cabinet are recruited from the coalition of the parties that form the government. The prime minister and the cabinet are all answerable to the Diet. The Diet has got powers to pass a no-confidence vote against the cabinet rendering them to resign en masse. The cabinet appoints all the Supreme Court judges, save for the Chief Justice who is appointed by the Emperor (Schoppa 1). Legislative Function The legislative function of the Japanese parliament is based on the Diet. The Diet consists of two houses, which are the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors. The House of Representatives is the lower house and wields more powers than the upper house. For instance the lower house can over turn a decision of the upper house by a two thirds majority if it feels that such actions undermine the lower house. The lower house is also the one that elects the prime minister and has a fundamental input in the making of the budget. In situations where the two houses hold different opinions which they fail to agree on concerning a matter, the decision of the lower house is taken to be that of the Diet. On the other hand, it is worthy to note that a bill only becomes a law when it is passed by both the upper and lower chambers (Risse-Kappen 1). Judicial Function The judicial system of Japan is headed by a Chief Justice. It has the Supreme Court as its highest and final court of appeal in both criminal and civil cases. Article 81 of the constitution gives the Supreme Court the power to establish whether any law, order or regulation passes the constitutionality test. Other duties of the Supreme Court include the nomination of judges to the lower courts, determination of the judicial procedures, managing the judicial system and disciplining judges. The court delivers its rulings from either a grand bench that comprises of fifteen judges or a petit bench of five. The court has also research clerks whose numbers add up to twenty. The Supreme Court is subordinated by eight high courts, fifty district courts and fifty family courts. Bureaucracy Bureaucracy in Japan could be traced back to the Meiji period (1968-1912). During this time there came a need to staff the civil service with individuals who were considered most able. They were drawn from the most elitist universities from around the country. Bureaucracy is believed to be playing a major role in the control of most Japanese sectors such as business and government agencies. Statistically, eighty per cent of Japanese policies were reportedly made by bureaucrats while twenty percent were made by the elected leaders. More than one million civil servants in the Japanese government and 332,999 general staff administrators are from the national bureaucracy (Pempel 19). The Japan’s best and brightest brains are members of the Japanese bureaucracy, having graduated from the most prestigious universities in the country. Career civil servants who show excellent performance are usually promoted to bureaucrats (Pempel 23). In the present day Japan, bureaucracy is manifested in everyday life. In order to live in any city in Japan, one is needed to possess a residency permit. Japan has also a system of accounting for all family issues through family registrations. This is done through registering births, marriages and deaths. One of the reasons for this is to assist families to gain access to the assets of the deceased member of the family (Pempel 19). In a bid to improve taxation and the social services to its citizens, Japan government undertook to register its citizens and issue them with national identity cards by the year 2015. According to Pempel, the ID system would be far stretched to encompass pension premiums, tax returns and social security programs. All citizens including foreigners would benefit from it. A particular number based on the place of residence is issued (23). The power that is wielded by the bureaucrats surpasses that of the politicians, and the Japanese people themselves. Bureaucrats consider themselves excellent managers and administrators who have to give direction to the executive on the best methods to govern. Incidentally, they are gaining ground and the impacts of their bureaucracy are visible all over Japan. For instance, lately the prime minister has been consistently reshuffling the cabinet under their order. With the recent expansion of the democratic space and the will of expression, the bureaucrats have managed to open up and let their voices be heard on local issues affecting the state. The dominance of the bureaucrats in the affairs of the state has rendered politicians irrelevant and weak. To this effect, it is the bureaucrats who make decisions on the difficult issues and deliver speeches that belong to ministers in the Diet. They have also traditionally participated in drawing the budget plans and writing new legislative laws. This in effect renders the legislature to becoming only a rubber stamping equipment. Public Policy Making: Domestic Policy, Foreign Policy Japan’s domestic policies have always been centered on economic reforms and politics. Economic reforms have touched on privatization of some government parastatal and increase in tax revenue collections. The cancellation of bad debts for some banking institutions and embarking on programs to enhance the creation of more employment opportunities are activities aimed towards promoting domestic policy (Schoppa 1). The Japanese foreign policy is exercised by the cabinet under the supervision of the Diet. Both the two houses of parliament have foreign affairs committees to which the prime minister must appear to give reports concerning the foreign affairs policies. The committees are then required by the law to report their findings to parliament. The members of the Diet are required to scrutinize the report before raising the pertinent policy questions concerning the issues presented in the report. Either the minister in charge of the foreign affairs or the prime minister himself is mandated to answer foreign affairs questions from the parliamentarians. The Diet is also responsible for ratifying the treaties signed with foreign countries (Risse-Kappen 501). By virtue of being the head of the executive, the prime minister has the final say in all foreign policy decisions. His chief foreign policy advisor on issues related to the planning and implementation is the foreign affairs minister (Gray 1). Media The media in Japan include multiple newspapers, magazines, and television and radio networks. The media plays a very important role in the lives of the Japanese citizens just as anywhere else in the world. Some early survey carried out in the year 1995 shows that average Japanese watches TV for three hours a day and spend a half a day reading newspapers and books and also listening to the radio. It is also reported that the Japanese reporters have earned respect and admiration from the people and so the Japanese newspapers and broadcasts are hugely read and listened to respectively. The media has also helped to reshape the party politics besides offering good channels to the bureaucrats to air their views to the public. A case in point is the use of television by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (2001-2006) to often communicate with the citizens (Open Source Center 6). The Japanese media also comprises of a Press Club. This is a group of newspaper reporters who have an exclusive access to some important information owned by the government, corporation or an organization. These groups of reporters are so enduring to the Japanese citizens because of the nature of the new information that they relay across. On the other hand, they have always been taken to task over the authenticity and transparency of the information they relay to the public (Open Source Center 5). The Japan’s media environment is interestingly organized like other socioeconomic institutions in Japan. The mass media is reportedly dominated by five conglomerates just like in the case of a number of multilateral industry groups. The government supports the media organizations in Japan through financial support extended to them (Open Source Center 7). Works Cited Gray, Gavan. Interview by Clay Tiago. Japan Foreign Policy Observatory. n.p., 23 Mar. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2012 Open Source Center. Japan--Media Environment Open: State Looms Large. Fas.org. OSC Media Aid., 18 Aug. 2009. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. Pempel, T J. “Bureaucracy in Japan.” PS: Political Science and Politics 25.1 (1992): 19-24. Print. Risse-Kappen, Thomas. “Public Opinion, Domestic Structure, and Policy in Liberal Democracies”. World Politics: A Quarterly Journal of International Relations 43.1 (1991): 479-512. Print. Schoppa, Leonard. “Japanese Domestic Politics: The Challenge of Turning off the Cruise Control.” Fpri.org. Foreign Policy Research Institute, 22 Oct. 2003. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. Read More