Legislative branch:
bicameral Diet or Kokkai consists of the House of Councillors or
Sangi-in (247 seats - members elected for six-year terms; half
reelected every three years; 149 members in multi-seat
constituencies and 98 by proportional representation); House of
Representatives or Shugi-in (480 seats - members elected for
four-year terms; 300 in single-seat constituencies; 180 members by
proportional representation in 11 regional blocs)
election results: House of Councillors - percent of vote by party -
NA%; seats by party - LDP 110, DPJ 59, Komeito 23, JCP 20, SDP 8,
Liberal Party 8, Conservative Party 5, independents 14; distribution
of seats as of July 2001 was: LDP 115, DPJ 60, Komeito 24, JCP 20,
SDP 8, Liberal Party 8 (merged with DPJ in 2003), independents 6,
others 6; House of Representatives - percent of vote by party - LDP
49.38%, DPJ 36.88%, Komeito 7.09%, JCP 1.88%, SDP 1.25%, NCP .84%;
seats by party - LDP 237, DPJ 177, Komeito 34, JCP 9, SDP 6, NCP 4,
others 13; distribution of seats as of 13 November 2003 was: LDP
244, DPJ 177, Komeito 34, JCP 9, SDP 6, others 10
elections: House of Councillors - last held 29 July 2001 (next to be
held in July 2004); House of Representatives - last held 9 November
2003 (next election has not been scheduled)
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (chief justice is appointed by the monarch after
designation by the cabinet; all other justices are appointed by the
cabinet)
Political parties and leaders:
Democratic Party of Japan or DPJ [Naoto KAN, leader; Katsuya OKADA,
secretary general]; Japan Communist Party or JCP [Kazuo SHII,
chairman; Tadayoshi ICHIDA, secretary general]; Komeito [Takenori
KANZAKI, president; Tetsuzo FUYUSHIBA, secretary general]; Liberal
Democratic Party or LDP [Junichiro KOIZUMI, president; Shinzo ABE,
secretary general]; Social Democratic Party or SDP [Mizuho
FUKUSHIMA, chairperson; Seiji MATAICHI, secretary general]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA
International organization participation:
ABEDA, AfDB, APEC, ARF (dialogue partner), AsDB, ASEAN (dialogue
partner), Australia Group, BIS, CE (observer), CERN (observer), CP,
EBRD, ESCAP, FAO, G-5, G-7, G-8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC,
ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO,
Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, NAM (guest), NEA, NSG, OAS (observer),
OECD, OPCW, OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR,
UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMISET, UNMOVIC, UNRWA, UNU, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU,
WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Ryozo KATO
FAX: [1] (202) 328-2187
consulate(s): Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands)
consulate(s) general: Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver,
Detroit, Hagatna (Guam), Honolulu, Houston, Kansas City (Missouri),
Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Portland (Oregon), San
Francisco, and Seattle
chancery: 2520 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 238-6700
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Howard H. BAKER, Jr. embassy: 10-5 Akasaka 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8420 mailing address: Unit 45004, Box 258, APO AP 96337-5004 telephone: [81] (03) 3224-5000 FAX: [81] (03) 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 Japan
Economy - overview:
Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of
high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (1% of
GDP) helped Japan advance with extraordinary rapidity to the rank of
second-most-technologically-powerful economy in the world after the
US and third-largest economy after the US and China. 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. Both features are now 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
markedly in the 1990s, averaging just 1.7%, 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. Government efforts
to revive economic growth have met with little success and were
further hampered in 2000-2003 by the slowing of the US, European,
and Asian economies. Japan's huge government debt, which is
approaching 150% of GDP, and the ageing of the population are two
major long-run problems. Robotics constitutes a key long-term
economic strength with Japan possessing 410,000 of the world's
720,000 "working robots." Internal conflict over the proper way to
reform the ailing banking system continues.