Political Science

Japan and the United States are among the worlds largest economy. Both countries have democratic systems of government, but there are other political aspects that differ in the two countries. The two countries have completely different systems of government with Japan having a parliamentary and the United States with presidential system. The parliamentary system of Japan has a Prime Minister who is elected by the House of Representatives from among themselves by a majority vote. He is usually the leader of the majority party and is the head of government. He chooses a cabinet that assists him in directing the government, from his political allies. The United States has a presidential system where there is a chief executive of the government, that is, the president without the prime minister. The president does not need to select a cabinet commanding the support of the legislative majority. The legislature also operates for a fixed term and cannot be dismissed before the time expires.  In the United States system, the president and the members of the executive branch of government cannot be members of congress, except the vice president.
 
Another political aspect that is different between the two countries is the electoral system. In the Japanese system, representatives are elected to the Diet, the Japanese National Parliament. The Diet is divided into two sections, the Upper House, which is the House of Councilors and the Lower House which is the House of Representatives. The House of Councilors is most powerful of the two. In law making, a bill rejected by the upper house after it has been passed by the Lower House, it can still become a law if it is passed again by the Lower House with a two-thirds majority. In the United States, the position of the Head of State and Head of Government are both held by the president. The President in the United States system is always actively participating in the political process heshe is never a symbolic figurehead. The President of the United States has special privileges in the passing of legislations. The privilege is the power of veto over passing of bills, nevertheless, it is very rare for the president to have authority to propose bills or vote for or against a bill.
  
 The electoral system in Japan differs greatly from the one in the United States. The Japanese house of representatives has 500 members, who are elected and are in office for a four-year term. Out of the 500 members, 300 come from single-seat constituencies, like in the United States, every voter in a particular district has one vote, and the candidate who gets majority votes becomes the winner and hence a sole representative for that district. The remaining 200 members are elected by Proportional Representation (PR) in eleven regional blocs. Voters in a region vote for a party and not for an individual. The number of seats in parliament that a party gets is based on the percentage of polls that it gets. Every party gives its seats in Diet to its top candidates, who are then ranked from the highest to the lowest before the elections. For example, in a district that has 20 seats, if a party gets 50 percent of the vote, then the party gets 10 seats, that are given to the top candidates on their party list.

The Upper House which is the House of Councilors has 252, members, who are elected and holds office for a six-year term. Elections are carried out for half of all House of Councilors seats every three years. For example, after elections are held in 1998 to fill the first 126 seats, then another election is held in 2001, to fill the remaining half. In every Upper House election, members are elected from single-seat constituencies, 52 from multi-seat constituencies, and 50 by Proportional Representation. There are three to five representatives in each district as compared to one in the case of the United States. In an election, the three to five who get the top votes are all winners. Every voter still has a single vote. In the American presidential system, the president and the congress members are elected in separate elections. The separate election of the executive is done by the Electoral College. The president is elected to office for a fixed term.  

The campaigning styles in these two countries are very different. Japanese political parties are generally weak organizationally. They also have few rank and file members, therefore individual aspirants cannot rely so much on their parties for political support. This is unlike in the United States where aspirants campaign in support of their political parties. Candidates in Japan therefore, often build personal organizations of supporters among electorates in their districts. Aspirants encourage electorates to join their personal support organizations by doing small favors for them like assisting their children to get into good quality schools or better jobs, sending them cards during holidays and financing trips for them. Aspirants also try to gather support by recruiting leaders of local organizations in the hope that they will motivate their members to join the organization and vote in their favor during the election.

In Japan, there are strict rules imposed by the government as control over campaigns. Aspirants are only allowed to have one campaign vehicle and a few posters and other printed materials. The campaigning period is only 12 days. In the American system, most of the aspirants pay for television and radio advertising so as to communicate with the electorates. The strict rules imposed by the government of Japan bars such advertisements. Aspirants in Japan are allowed only a few commercials or television appearances sponsored by the government. Aspirants in Japan spend less finance on commercials as compared to those in the United States, but spend more on funding the personal support groups. Just like in the United States, elections can be very expensive to the aspirants.

In 1993, the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost control over its Diet majority temporarily. The party therefore lost the control of the government as some of its members defected and established a new party. The situation was so significant since up until that point, Liberal Democratic Party had controlled the government of Japan for 40 years without disruption. A long time of political realignment took place after the 1993 event, even if Liberal Democratic Party regained power in 1994.  A lot of small political parties emerged then disappeared or combined with other parties, while some of the existing parties like the Japan Socialist Party changed their names in an attempt to transform with the transforming times. The most significant consequence of Liberal Democratic Partys temporary loss of control over the government was the reform of the electoral system by the coalition government. The reform was enacted in 1994. The reforms primary objective was to establish a system that had two main parties that interchange power regularly, as it is in the United States. Up until then, the Japanese electoral system had one large party (the Liberal Democratic Party) that dominated three or four lesser opposition parties that were never capable of winning control of the government.

Those reforming the electoral system were strained and made political compromises allowing some aspects of the old system to stay. Analysts argue that the reforms will never be able to create a two-party system (Hao, p. 28). In the late 19th century, it was hypothesized that the speaker of the United States House of Representatives would transform into a quasi-prime minister, making the United States to change into a form of parliamentary system. However, this did not take place. It is therefore evident that politics in these two countries remain totally different.