国会

The Kokkai, called "Diet" in English but literally meaning "National Assembly," is the legislature of Japan. It was created in its current form by Chapter IV of the 1946 constitution, but was first put together after the bakufu of the Tokugawa family was toppled in the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when Ito Hirobumi became its first prime minister under the terms of the Meiji Constitution. The modern Diet is located in Nagata-cho in Tokyo, adjacent to administrative offices in Kasumigaseki.

The Diet is similar to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in function, and the Congress of the United States in structure (the latter comes from Douglas MacArthur, who redesigned the Diet during the Allied occupation of Japan: cf. House of Peers). In the constitution, it is divided into two houses, the upper Sangiin or House of Councillors (6-year terms) and the lower Shûgiin or House of Representatives (4-year terms), both elected by the Japanese people. An ordinary session of the Diet is opened every January, and the cabinet can call extraordinary sessions if it sees the need to do so. Both houses must approve legislation before it can become law, but Representatives can override Councillors' decisions with a two-thirds vote, and the lower house's decisions take precedence in budgetary and international relations matters.

The size of the Diet is not fixed in the constitution. There are currently 247 seats in the upper house and 480 in the lower house, for a total of 727 members. The middle-right Liberal Democratic Party is dominant in both houses: its opponents include the Democratic Party of Japan, New Komeito, Social Democratic Party of Japan, and Japanese Communist Party.

The Diet elects the prime minister, who sets up a cabinet to oversee Japan's many bureaucratic kanryo organs, where the country's true political power is said to be held. The cabinet-level agencies are:

Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications
Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
Ministry of the Environment
National Public Safety Commission
Defense Agency

Links:
www.sangiin.go.jp - House of Councillors
www.shugiin.go.jp - House of Representatives
www.kantei.go.jp - Prime Minister and Cabinet
www.ndl.go.jp - National Diet Library