| The
Sources and Links for More Information: Kingston, Jeffrey (2001).
Japan in Transformation, 1952-2000.
Harlow, England; New York: Longman. 190-194.
McCargo, Duncan (2000).
Contemporary Japan. Basingstoke :
Macmillan Press. 16-17.
Japan-guide.com
Kidsweb Japan
The Japan of Today
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The Constitutional
Monarchy
The Constitution
came into effect on 3 May
1947. It is the primary protection for
Japanese democracy.
Read about it
The Emperor
is ‘the symbol of the
State and of the unity of the People’ (Article
1). Without any powers related to government, the
Emperor performs only those acts in matters of
state that are stipulated in the Constitution, or
that are advised and approved by the cabinet.
The Diet
is ‘the highest organ
of state power’, and ‘the sole law-making
organ of the State’ (Article 41). All
members are chosen by election, serving as
representative of all the people. It is composed
of :
1.
House of Representatives
(Lower House)
with
members elected by districts for four-year terms;
and
2.
House of Councillors (Upper
House)
with
members elected for six-year terms by two
different methods, district election and national
election.
The Prime
Minister
is designated by the Diet
and then appointed by the Emperor.
Official Web Site
The Cabinet
is where the executive power
is vested. It is headed by the Prime
Minister and consists of the Ministers of the
State. The Ministers are appointed by the Prime
Minister while at least half of them must be
members of the Diet. As provided in the
Constitution, the Cabinet is ‘collectively
responsible to the Diet’ (Article 66).
An Independent Judiciary
is specified in the
constitution. In theory the Supreme Court,
which is vested with the whole judicial power,
plays an important role in the interpretation of
legislation and making interventions over
controversial matters.
Local Self-Government
was introduced by the post-war
Occupation authority. It is a system of
prefectural and municipal governments based on
the principle of local autonomy, which is insured
by Chapter 8 of the Constitution and set forth in
the Local Autonomy Law (Chiho Jichi Ho). As
of July 1996, Japan has 47 prefectures; each of
them is headed by an elected governor (chiji) and
administered by an assembly with elected
membership. There are various forms of
municipalities, which are headed by elected
mayors who are elected with executive powers.
The Sources and
Links for More Information:
McCargo,
Duncan (2000). Contemporary Japan.
Basingstoke : Macmillan Press. 79-97.
Japan Access
|
Economy
Japan is an island
country, with limited natural resources and a
large population.
Historically the
Japanese economy has experienced several periods
of expansion and recession. Initially assisted by
rehabilitation aid from the United States, Japan
rebuilt its war-devastated economy in the decade
after 1945. Powered by the high rates of personal
savings and private-sector facilities investment,
a labour force with strong work ethic, an ample
supply of cheap oil, innovative technology, and
an effective government intervention in private-sector
industries, Japan successfully achieved high
economic growth and quickly moved from "less-developed"
to "developed" status between mid-1950s
and 1970s. The economy became mature and
the growth rate slowed down in the 1970-80s.
The so-called "bubble
economy" swelled in Japan in 1988 and 1989,
with dramatic rises in stock and land prices. To
counter this phenomenon and prevent the inflation
potentially resulted from the Gulf crisis in
August 1990, the Government and the Bank of Japan
adopted a belt-tightening policy. The bubble then
burst. Stock prices tumbled and the economy
slumped from around the middle of 1991.
The economic structure
of Japan is a complex of industry, commerce,
finance, agriculture, and all the other elements
of a modern economic structure. The primary
sector, agriculture, forestry, and fishing, now
employ a relatively minor share (5.8% as of 1994)
of the work force compared with 32.6% in 1960.
The secondary sector,
including steel, aluminium, petrochemicals,
cement, and other heavy industries, registered
spectacular growth in the 1960s by introducing
the latest technologies and adopting mass
production methods. Because of their high
consumption of energy and resources, these
industries were hit by rising costs and shrinking
demand after the oil crises of the 1970s. They
therefore have been making determined efforts to
improve energy conservation, produce higher-value-added
goods, and diversify.
While the manufacturing
industries declined after the two oil crises, the
rise in national income and leisure time,
urbanization, and the strong yen led to the
growth of tertiary industries. The contribution
of distribution, services, finance and insurance,
transport and telecommunications, electricity,
gas, water supply, and other branches of the
tertiary sector to GDP rose from 51.0% in 1970 to
61.9% in 1993, and their share of the employed
population grew from 47.4% in 1970 to 59.9% in
1993.
The employment system
was widely believed to play a key role in Japan's
high economic growth before 1990s. The three
elements, lifetime employment, seniority-based
wages, and enterprise-based unionism, were
believed to be associated with the development of
a stable and vigorous society. This system,
however, is slowly changing after the collapse of
economic bubble at the start of the 1990s. The
prolonged recession and low growth forced
Japanese business and industry to make changes to
stimulate a recovery. While making efforts to
avoid employee layoffs, companies used other
measures, such as reduced hiring of new
graduates, relocation, and restrictions on wage
levels and employment conditions. Major
corporations are also in the process of modifying
the lifetime employment system. They are inclined
to dismiss employees much earlier than age 60 or
to employ skilled newcomers. Some companies have
introduced annual salary conditions.In fact, the
way of thinking among employees, in particular
the younger ones, is also changing. Increasingly,
employees are showing reluctance towards the idea
of loyalty to their company. It is no longer
uncommon for people to change jobs.
The high saving rate
in Japan provides another support for economic
development. This is usually explained by
Confucian thriftiness, deficiencies in the social
security system, the bonus system, tax
incentives, the high costs of living, and the
desire to pass on inheritances to relatives.
Recently the ageing population and falling birth
rate become other factors encouraging high levels
of saving (Duncan, 2000: 40).
Some Justice and Peace
Concerns
(Draft) Human Rights Protection Bill
was submitted to the Diet on
8 March 2002 by the government to prohibit human
rights violations and establish a Human Rights
Commission in Japan. While such a measure would
usually be welcomed in a society without a
general or comprehensive law providing remedies
for human rights violations, opposition has been
expressed by members of the legislature, law and
human rights sectors, and the media. Criticisms
by the Human Rights Forum 21,
a network of human rights organisations in Japan
focusing primarily on the establishment of
national human rights institution, include:
the
definition of "human rights"
in the draft is unclear;
the
draft lacks the viewpoint of the
victimised (vulnerable, affected)
parties;
the
proposed Commission lacks
independence;
the
proposed Commission is overly
centralized;
the
harms of vertical sectionalism in the
administration are reflected in the
draft;
the
draft minimises in relative terms the
seriousness of human rights
violations by public authority; and
the
draft Bill may threaten the freedoms
of expression and the press.
Concern groups in Japan have
commented that unless the flaws and problems in
the Bill are corrected, the legislation will fail
to genuinely contribute to providing remedies for
human rights violations.
Discrimination against Minorities and
Non-Japanese
remains strong in Japan.
There are several significant minority groups in
the country.
Burakumin
are a caste-like minority among the ethnic
Japanese. They are generally descendants of
outcaste populations who performed low-class
occupations in the feudal days. There are roughly
three million Buraku people living in isolated
areas with poor health and living conditions. They
have fewer job opportunities than the rest of the
population because of discriminatory practices in
many companies
Ethnic
Koreans are the descendants of Koreans who
were brought to Japan to provide low-cost labour
during Japan's occupation of Korea from 1910 to
1945. Most of them are denied Japanese
nationality and remain in Japan under a permanent-resident
visa status with limited civil rights and access
to employment.
Ainus
are the first inhabitants of Japan's northernmost
islands and they are now mainly resident in
Hokkaido. Ethnically and culturally distinct from
the majority Japanese, they have faced
discrimination and loss of lands.
Okinawans
are the indigenous people of the Ryukyu Islands.
They suffer from cultural and political
isolation, with their land rights being infringed
by the American military presence in Okinawa
Death Penalty
is practised in Japan and is
widely accepted by the Japanese public as an
appropriate punishment for crimes involving
murder. According to Amnesty International, there
were 57 people waiting to be executed by hanging
at the end of 2002. Japan’s use of death
penalty has come under extensive international
criticism, especially because of the inhumane and
degrading treatment of the death-row inmates. For
instance, they are completely isolated and
strictly restricted in their communications with
people from outside. These death-row inmates are
not informed of their fate until the morning of
their execution day and all executions are
conducted secretly. A 122-member multiparty
parliamentary league, the Japan Parliamentary
League Against the Death Penalty has been formed
to seek the abolition of death penalty. (South
China Morning Post, 1 June 2003; Human Rights
Features, 75/03)
Peace-Related Issues
are still matters of
great concern and debate six decades after the
Second World War. Though the Japanese
government maintains that all war-related claims
were settled in the San Francisco Peace Treaty,
there are still disputes and individual cases,
especially those of wartime sexual violence (Comfort
Women) and chemical weapons, that remain
unresolved. Korean and Chinese groups have been
protesting against the Japanese government’s
attempt to create a “collective amnesia”
through re-writing history in school textbooks [UA 010515(7)] and the
centralised education policies (Jeffrey Kingston,
2001: 47-51). There are always diplomatic
tensions whenever the Japanese Prime Minister
visits the Yasukuni Shrine, where the Japan’s
World War II dead and war criminals are honoured.
In the name of
defence, there are about 52,000 US troops in
Japan after disarmament. Their presence, however,
fails to bring security and peace to the
residents on the island of Okinawa, where US
military bases are concentrated and about 25,000
US troops are hosted. The Okinawans not only
suffer from the noise and dangers of training
missions, they are also complain of criminal
activities by soldiers, especially rape cases. Okinawans
say that they are treated as second-class
citizens (South China Morning Post, 29 February
2002).
Concerns over
security have increased after the September 11
attack on New York and the US-led retaliation
attack against Afghanistan. Immediately after the
Second World War, Japan adopted a Constitution
declaring, in Article 9, that the Japanese people
forever renounce war, belligerency, and arms.
However, the Japanese government now intends to
reform the constitution and enact “Crisis
Legislation”, which will “give the
prime minister authority over government
ministries and local government in the event of
an attack, and would put limits on individual
rights to allow for smoother military operations”
(South China Morning Post, 16 May 2003).
Opponents criticise this as a law to prepare for
war, and also a potential threat to civil rights
and to the media.
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