Question
of the Week
Vol. 28
Q. How is the Japanese Prime Minister elected?
A. This is not a language question, but I thought you might find it interesting. There is some vocabulary you can learn as well.
The Parliament of Japan is called the Diet (kokkai), which is made up of the House of Representatives (shuugi-in) and the House of Councilors (sangi-in). The House of Representatives has 500 members and the House of Councilors has 252.
The members of both houses are elected by direct vote of the people. All men and women who have reached the age of 20 have the right to vote (women were given the right to vote in 1945).
Because Japan adopted the parliamentary cabinet system (giinnaikakusei), the prime minister (shushou or souri-daijin) is designated by the Diet among its members. The candidates also must be civilians, though all the Japanese are civilians since there is no military. Prime minister chooses state ministers (daijin), a majority of whom must be Diet members.
Their terms of service are 4 years for the House of Representatives and 6 years for House of Councilors. Unlike local council members, who usually serve out their full terms, the members of the House of Representatives are usually interrupted in their terms by House dissolution and general elections.
That's one of reasons that Japanese Prime Ministers change so often. Japan has had seven different Prime Ministers in during Clinton's administration. Most Japanese are not very political due to the way the prime minister is chosen.
Here are the Japanese Prime Ministers from the past 10 years (Family names are written first). How many of them can you recognize?
| Miyazawa Kiichi | 11/05/91-08/09/93 |
| Hosokawa Morihiro | 08/09/93-04/28/94 |
| Hata Tsutomu | 04/28/94-06/30/94 |
| Murayama Tomiichi | 06/30/94-01/11/96 |
| Hashimoto Ryuutarou | 01/11/96-11/07/96 11/07/96-07/30/98 |
| Obuchi Keizou | 07/30/98-04/05/00 |
| Mori Yoshirou | 04/05/00-07/04/00 07/04/00-04/26/01 |
| Koizumi Junichirou | 04/26/01-09/26/06 |
| Shinzo Abe | 09/26/06-09/26/07 |
| Yasuo Fukuda | 09/26/07- present |
Click here to learn more about politics in Japan.
