_#_Leaders:
Chief of State—Emperor AKIHITO (since 7 January 1989);
Head of Government—Prime Minister Kiichi MIYAZAWA (since 5
November 1991)
_#_Political parties and leaders:
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Toshiki KAIFU, president; Keizo OBUCHI,
secretary general;
Japan Socialist Party (JSP), T. DOI, chairman;
Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), Keigo OUCHI, chairman;
Japan Communist Party (JCP), K. MIYAMOTO, Presidium chairman;
Komeito (Clean Government Party, CGP), Koshiro ISHIDA, chairman
_#_Suffrage: universal at age 20
_#_Elections:
House of Councillors—last held on 23 July 1989 (next to be held 23 July 1992); results—percent of vote by party NA; seats—(252 total, 100 elected) LDP 109, JSP 67, CGP 21, JCP 14, other 41;
House of Representatives—last held on 18 February 1990 (next to be held by February 1993); results—percent of vote by party NA; seats—(512 total) LDP 275, JSP 136, CGP 45, JCP 16, DSP 14, other parties 5, independents 21; note—9 independents are expected to join the LDP, 5 the JSP
_#_Communists: about 490,000 registered Communist party members
_#_Member of: AfDB, AG (observer), APEC, AsDB, BIS, CCC, COCOM, CP,
EBRD, ESCAP, FAO, G-2, G-5, G-7, G-8, G-10, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO,
ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT,
INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS, NEA, OAS (observer),
OECD, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNRWA, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WTO