Politics of Japan

Constitution Emperor — (list) Imperial Household Agency Government Prime Minister — (list) Cabinet Ministries National Diet House of Councillors House of Representatives Judicial system Elections: 2000 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 Political parties Liberal Democratic Party Democratic Party New Clean Government Party Japanese Communist Party Social Democratic Party Political extremism Fiscal policy Foreign relations

} Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 497 KB) The Diet of Japan in Tokyo. ... Jump to: navigation, search Japan has a parliamentary government, which consists of three branches: the administration(executive) branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch. ... His Majesty Emperor Akihito of Japan The Emperor of Japan (天皇 tennō) is a constitutionally-recognized symbol of the Japanese nation and the unity of its people. ... Jump to: navigation, search The following is a traditional list of Emperors of Japan. ... The Imperial Household Agency is a government agency of Japan in charge of the state matters concerning Japans royal family. ... The Prime Minister of Japan (内閣総理大臣 Naikaku sōri daijin) is the English political nomenclature of the head of government of Japan. ... This is a historical list of individuals who have served as Prime Minister of Japan. ... The Cabinet(内閣, Naikaku) is the executive branch of the government of Japan. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The National Diet of Japan (国会; Kokkai) is Japans legislature. ... The House of Councillors (参議院; Sangi-in) is the upper house of the Diet of Japan. ... The House of Representatives (衆議院; Shugi-in) is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Judicial System of Japan, the postwar constitution guarantees that all judges shall be independent in the exercise of their conscience and shall be bound only by this constitution and the Laws (Article 76). ... Categories: Election related stubs | Elections in Japan ... Elections to the Shugi-In (House of Representatives) of the Japanese Diet were held on 25 June 2000. ... Incumbent Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi A general election took place in Japan on November 9, 2003. ... Elections to the House of Councillors, the upper house of the legislature of Japan, were held on July 11, 2004. ... For a breakdown of the results by block district with maps, see Results of Japan general election, 2005 Japan held a nationwide election to the House of Representatives, the more powerful lower house of the National Diet, on 11 September 2005, about two years before the end of the term... Political parties in Japan lists political parties in Japan. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), also known as JiyÅ« Minshutō (自由民主党, or the abbreviation Jimin-tō 自民党) is the largest political party in Japan, as of 2004. ... The Democratic Party of Japan (民主党, Minshutō) is a liberal party in Japan. ... The New Clean Government Party (公明党, Kōmeitō) or NKP, often translated as New Komeito Party, is a political party in Japan affiliated with the religious movement Soka Gakkai. ... The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) (日本共産党), in Japanese known as Nihon Kyōsan-tō is a political party of Japan based on communism. ... The Social Democratic Party (社会民主党 Shakai Minshu-tō, often abbreviated to 社民党 Shamin-tō; also abbreviated as SDP in English) is a political party of Japan. ... Jump to: navigation, search Monetary policy pertains to the regulation, availability, and cost of credit, while fiscal policy deals with government expenditures, taxes, and debt. ... Foreign relations of Japan - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

While Japan's political mainstream can be described as a "one and a half" party system, with the LDP being the dominant force, there is room for political extremism to the left and the right. Jump to: navigation, search The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), also known as Jiyū Minshutō (自由民主党, or the abbreviation Jimin-tō 自民党) is the largest political party in Japan, as of 2004. ...

Neither left- nor right-wing extremists managed to wrest power from the LDP in post-war history, but they managed to influence public opinion on certain topics. These include the Sino-Japanese relations, the role of the military and national symbolism. On some topics like the Yasukuni Shrine, all three elements play a role. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Foreign relations between Japan and China. ... Jump to: navigation, search Students at Yasukuni The main building of Yasukuni Shrine The Yasukuni Shrine (lit. ...

The public and the government appear to tolerate certain forms of public disorder as inherent to a properly functioning democracy. Demonstrations usually follow established forms. Groups receive legal permits and keep to assigned routes and areas. Placards and bullhorns are used to express positions. Traffic is sometimes disrupted, and occasional shoving battles between police and protesters result. But arrests are rare and generally are made only in cases involving violence. This page is about protests. ... A megaphone is a cone-shaped device designed to amplify sound. ... The Chicago Police Department arrests a man An arrest is the action of police or other authority, or even in some circumstances a private civilian, to apprehend and take under guard a person who is suspected of committing a crime. ...

Although membership in extremist groups represent only a minute portion of the population and present no serious threat to the government, authorities are concerned about the example set by the groups' violence, as well as by the particular violent events. Violent protest by radicals also occur in the name of causes apparently isolated from public sentiments. Occasional clashes between leftist factions and between leftists and rightists have injured both participants and bystanders.

New Left

According to the 1989 Asahi Nenkan, there were 14,400 activist members of the "new left" organized into five major "currents" (ryū) and twenty-seven or twenty-eight different factions. Total membership was about 35,000. New-left activity focused on the New Tokyo International Airport at Narita-Sanrizuka. In the early 1970s, radical groups and normally conservative farmers formed a highly unusual alliance to oppose expropriation of the latter's land for the airport's construction. Confrontations at the construction site, which pitted thousands of farmers and radicals against riot police, were violent but generally nonlethal. Although the airport was completed and began operations during the 1980s, the resistance continued, on a reduced scale. Radicals attempted to halt planned expansion of the airport by staging guerrilla attacks on those directly or indirectly involved in promoting the plan. By 1990 this activity had resulted in some deaths. There were also attacks against places associated with the emperor. In January 1990, leftists fired homemade rockets at imperial residences in Tokyo and Kyoto. The term far left refers to the relative position a group or person occupies within the political spectrum. ... Narita International Airport (Japanese: 成田国際空港 Narita Kokusai KÅ«kō) (IATA: NRT, ICAO: RJAA) is an international airport in the eastern portion of Narita, Chiba, Japan. ... Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... Distinguish from the type of ape called a gorilla. ... His Majesty Emperor Akihito of Japan The Emperor of Japan (天皇 tennō) is a constitutionally-recognized symbol of the Japanese nation and the unity of its people. ... Long a symbol of Tokyo, the Nijubashi Bridge at the Kokyo Imperial Palace. ... This page is about the city Kyoto. ...

Japanese Red Army

In terms of terrorist activities, the most important new-left group was the Japanese Red Army (Nihon Sekigun). Formed in 1969, it was responsible for, among other acts, the hijacking of a domestic Japan Airlines jet to Pyongyang in 1970 and the 1972 Lod Airport massacre. It also participated in an attack on a Shell Oil refinery in Singapore in 1974 and seized the French embassy in The Hague that same year and the United States and Swedish embassies in Kuala Lumpur in 1975. In 1977 the Japanese Red Army hijacked a Japan Airlines jet over India in a successful demand for a US$6 million ransom and the release of six inmates in Japanese prisons. Look up terrorist in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Japanese Red Army (日本赤軍, Nihon Sekigun) (JRA) is an international organisation founded by Ms. ... Jump to: navigation, search Aircraft hijacking (also known as Jacking) is the take-over of an aircraft, by a person or group, usually armed. ... JAL Boeing 747-400 Japan Airlines (Japanese: 日本航空 Nihon KōkÅ«, or JAL) is the largest airline in Asia. ... Pyŏngyang (평양 / 平壤) is the capital city of North Korea, located in the northwest of the country, situated on the Taedong River. ... On May 30, 1972 three members of the Japanese Red Army undertook a terrorist attack in Lod Airport in Tel Aviv on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. ... A Shell petrol station sign in the UK The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies (called Shell Oil in North America), has its headquarters split between the Shell Centre in London, United Kingdom and The Hague, Netherlands. ... A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one nation state present in another nation state to represent the sending state in the receiving State. ... Arms of The Hague The Hague (with capital T; Dutch: Den Haag, or officially s-Gravenhage) is the administrative capital of the Netherlands, located in the west of the country, in the province South Holland of which it is also the capital. ... Jump to: navigation, search Mayor Datuk Ruslin Hasan District Kuala Lumpur District Area  - Total (City) 243. ... The term ransom refers to the practice of holding a prisoner to extort money or property extorted to secure their release, or to the sum of money involved. ...

Its activists developed close connections with international terrorist groups, including Palestinian extremists like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Japanese Red Army also had close ties with the Kim Il Sung regime in North Korea. The group was tightly organized, and one scholar has suggested that its "managerial style" resembled that of major Japanese corporations. Jump to: navigation, search The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ... The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) (Arabic الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين - al-Jabhah al-Shaabiyah li-Tahrīr Filasṭīn) is a secular, Marxist-Leninist, nationalist Palestinian organization, founded after the Six-Day War in 1967. ... Kim Il-sung (April 15, 1912–July 8, 1994) was a Korean Communist politician and the ruler of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) from 1948 until his death. ...

Following heavy criticism at home and abroad for the government's "caving in" to terrorists' demands, the authorities announced their intention to recall and reissue approximately 5.6 million valid Japanese passports to make hijacking more difficult. A special police unit was formed to keep track of the terrorist group, and tight airport security measures were instigated. Despite issuing regular threats, the Japanese Red Army was relatively inactive in the 1980s. In 1990 its members were reported to be in North Korea and Lebanon undergoing further training and were available as mercenaries to promote various political causes. The title page of European Union passports bears the name European Union, then the name of the issuing country, in the official languages of all EU countries. ... Airport security refers to the techniques and methods used in protecting airports from crime and terrorism. ...

Fusako Shigenobu, the founder and leader, was arrested in Osaka, Japan in November 2000. Fusako Shigenobu (重信 房子; Shigenobu Fusako, born September 3, 1945), was the female leader of the Japanese Red Army. ... Jump to: navigation, search Osaka Castle (Ōsaka-jō) Location in Japan Osaka Aquarium (Kaiyukan) Osaka railway station Azumanga Daioh. ...

Right-wing extremism

Right-wing extremists were diverse. In 1989 there were 800 such groups with about 120,000 members altogether. By police count, however, only about fifty groups and 23,000 individuals were considered active. Right-wing extremists indulged in a heady romanticism with strong links to the prewar period. They tended to be fascinated with the macho charisma of blood, sweat, and steel, and they promoted (like many nonradical groups) traditional samurai values as the antidote to the spiritual ills of postwar Japan. Their preference for violent direct action rather than words reflected the example of the militarist extremists of the 1930s and the heroic "men of strong will" of the late Tokugawa period of the 1850s and 1860s. The modern right-wing extremists demanded an end to the postwar "system of dependence" on the United States, restoration of the emperor to his prewar, divine status, and repudiation of Article 9. Many, if not most, right-wingers had intimate connections with Japan's gangster underground, the yakuza. The term far-right refers to the relative position a group or person occupies within a political spectrum. ... Jump to: navigation, search Bushido (Japanese: 武士道; bushidō, way of the warrior), is an ethical code of conduct, analogous to the European concept of Chivalry. ... Militarism refers to the philosophical belief in which military (army or navy) should get full power of the country. ... History of Japan Paleolithic Jomon Yayoi Yamato period ---Kofun period ---Asuka period Nara period Heian period Kamakura period Muromachi period Azuchi-Momoyama period ---Nanban period Edo period Meiji period Taisho period Showa period ---Japanese expansionism ---Occupied Japan ---Post-Occupation Japan Heisei The Edo period (江戸時代) is a division of Japanese... The Constitution of Japan has the Article 9 No War clause. ... This article may be confusing for some readers, and should be edited to enhance clarity. ...

The ritual suicide of one of Japan's most prominent novelists, Mishima Yukio, following a failed attempt to initiate a rebellion among Self-Defense Forces units in November 1970, shocked and fascinated the public. Mishima and his small private army, the Shield Society (Tate no Kai), hoped that a rising of the Self-Defense Forces would inspire a nationwide affirmation of the old values and put an end to the postwar "age of languid peace." Jump to: navigation, search Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending ones own life; it is sometimes a noun for one who has committed or attempted the act. ... Yukio Mishima Yukio Mishima (三島由紀夫 Mishima Yukio), was the public name of Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡公威 Hiraoka Kimitake), (January 14, 1925 - November 25, 1970), a Japanese author and rightist political activist, notable for both his nihilistic post-war writing and the circumstances of his suicide. ... Jump to: navigation, search It has been suggested that Deployment of Japanese troops to Iraq be merged into this article or section. ...

Although rightists were also responsible for the assassination of socialist leader Asanuma Inejiro in 1960 and an attempt on the life of former prime minster Ohira Masayoshi in 1978, most of them, unlike their prewar counterparts, largely kept to noisy street demonstrations, especially harassment campaigns aimed at conventions of the leftist Japan Teachers Union. In the early 1990s, however, there was evidence that a "new right" was becoming more violent. In May 1987, a reporter working for the liberal Asahi Shimbun was killed by a gunman belonging to the Nippon Minzoku Dokuritsu Giyugun Betsudo Sekihotai (Blood Revenge Corps of the Partisan Volunteer Corps for the Independence of the Japanese Race), known as Sekihotai (Blood Revenge Corps). The Sekihotai also threatened to assassinate former Prime Minister Nakasone for giving in to foreign pressure on such issues as the revision of textbook accounts of Japan's war record. In January 1990, a member of the Seikijuku (translatable, ironically, as the Sane Thinkers School) shot and seriously wounded Nagasaki mayor Motoshima Hitoshi. The attack may have been provoked by the mayor's critical remarks concerning Emperor Hirohito. Jack Ruby murdered Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, in a very public manner In its most common use, assassination has come to mean the killing of an important person. ... Masayoshi Ōhira (大平 正芳 Ōhira Masayoshi March 12, 1910–June 12, 1980) was a Japanese politician and the 68th and 69th Prime Minister of Japan from December 7, 1978 to June 12, 1980. ... This page is about protests. ... Japan Teachers Union (日本教職員組合 Nihon Kyōshokuin Kumiai, JTU) is Japans largest and oldest labor union of teachers and school staffs. ... Jump to: navigation, search Asahi-TOKYO Office Asahi-OSAKA office ASA This article is about a newspaper in Japan. ... Jump to: navigation, search Nagasaki at night, 2003 Megane-bashi (Spectacles Bridge) Nagasaki listen [â–¶] (長崎市; -shi, literally long peninsula) is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture located on the south-western coast of Kyushu, the southernmost of the four mainland islands of Japan. ... Jump to: navigation, search Hirohito (April 29, 1901 – January 7, 1989) was the 124th Emperor of Japan who reigned from 1926 to 1989. ...

That attack came two days after the left-wing Chukakuha (Middle Core Faction), opposed to the imperial system, claimed responsibility for firing a rocket onto the grounds of the residence of the late emperor's brother and a day before the government announced the events leading to the enthronement of Emperor Akihito in November 1990. The enthronement ceremonies were considered likely targets for extremist groups on the left and the right who saw the mysticism surrounding the emperor as being overemphasized or excessively reduced respectively, but no serious incidents took place. Jump to: navigation, search Emperor Akihito Emperor Akihito (Japanese: 明仁) (born December 23, 1933) is the current Emperor (天皇, tennō) of Japan and the 125th according to the traditional order of succession. ...

Reference

• This article incorporates public domain text from the Library of Congress Country Studies. - Japan