Legislative branch: bicameral Diet or Kokkai consists of the House of Councillors or Sangi-in (252 seats; one-half of the members elected every three years - 76 seats of which are elected from the 47 multi-seat prefectural districts and 50 of which are elected from a single nationwide list with voters casting ballots by party; members elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms) and the House of Representatives or Shugi-in (500 seats - 200 of which are elected from 11 regional blocks on a proportional representation basis and 300 of which are elected from 300 single-seat districts; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: House of Councillors - last held 23 July 1995 (next to be held NA July 1998); House of Representatives - last held 20 October 1996 (next to be held by October 2000) election results : House of Councillors - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - LDP 110, NFP 56, SDP 38, JCP 14, Sakigake 3, others 19, independents 12; note - the distribution of seats as of March 1997 is as follows - LDP 112, NFP 61, SDP 23, JCP 14, Sakigake 3, others 39; House of Representatives - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - LDP 240, NFP 142, DPJ 52, JCP 26, SDP 15, Sun Party 10, others and independents 15; note - the distribution of seats as of March 1997 is as follows - LDP 241, NFP 141, DPJ 52, JCP 26, SDP 15, Sun Party 10, others and independents 15
Judicial branch: Supreme Court, chief justice is appointed by the emperor after designation by the cabinet, all other justices are appointed by the cabinet
Political parties and leaders: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Ryutaro
HASHIMOTO, president, Koichi KATO, secretary general; Social
Democratic Party (SDP), Takako DOI, chairman, Shigeru ITO, secretary
general; Sakigake (Harbinger), Akiko DOMOTO, acting chairman, Hiroyuki
SONODA, secretary general; New Frontier Party or NFP (Shinshinto),
Ichiro OZAWA, president, Takeo NISHIOKA, secretary general; Democratic
Party of Japan (DPJ), coleaders Yukio HATOYAMA and Naoto KAN; Japan
Communist Party (JCP), Tetsuzo FUWA, chairman, Kazuo SHII, secretary
general; Sun Party, Tsutomu HATA, chairman, Eijiro HATA, secretary
general
note: DPJ was formed in September 1996 by former members of SDP and
Sakigake; Sun Party was formed in December 1996 by former members of
NFP
International organization participation: AfDB, AG (observer), APEC,
AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE (observer), CP, EBRD, ESCAP, FAO,
G- 2, G- 5, G- 7, G- 8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU,
ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat,
Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MTCR, NEA, NSG, OAS
(observer), OECD, OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UN Security Council
(temporary), UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNRWA, UNU,
UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Kunihiko SAITO chancery : 2520 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 939-6700 FAX: [1] (202) 328-2187 consulate(s) general: Agana (Guam), Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Kansas City (Missouri), Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco, and Seattle consulate(s): Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands)
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant) embassy: 10-5, Akasaka 1-chome, Minato-ku (107), Tokyo mailing address : Unit 45004, Box 258, APO AP 96337-0001 telephone: [81] (3) 3224-5000 FAX: [81] (3) 3505-1862 consulate(s) general: Naha (Okinawa), Osaka-Kobe, Sapporo consulate(s) : Fukuoka, Nagoya
Flag description: white with a large red disk (representing the sun without rays) in the center
Economy
Economy - overview: Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (roughly 1% of GDP) have helped Japan advance with extraordinary rapidity to the rank of second most powerful economy in the world. One notable characteristic of the economy is the working together of manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors in closely knit groups called keiretsu. A second basic feature has been the guarantee of lifetime employment for a substantial portion of the urban labor force; this guarantee is slowly eroding. Industry, the most important sector of the economy, is heavily dependent on imported raw materials and fuels. The much smaller agricultural sector is highly subsidized and protected, with crop yields among the highest in the world. Usually self-sufficient in rice, Japan must import about 50% of its requirements of other grain and fodder crops. Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch. For three decades overall real economic growth had been spectacular: a 10% average in the 1960s, a 5% average in the 1970s, and a 4% average in the 1980s. Growth slowed considerably in 1992-95 largely because of the aftereffects of overinvestment during the late 1980s and contractionary domestic policies intended to wring speculative excesses from the stock and real estate markets. Growth picked up in 1996, largely a reflection of stimulative fiscal and monetary policies as well as low rates of inflation and social disorder. As a result of the expansionary fiscal policies and declining tax revenues due to the recession, Japan currently has one of the largest budget deficits as a percent of GDP among the industrialized countries. The crowding of habitable land area and the aging of the population are two other major long-run problems.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $2.85 trillion (1996 est.)