Assignment: Parliament above Emperor

NOW F OR AN ORIGINAL PAPER ASSIGNMENT:Assignment: Parliament above Emperor

We, the Japanese people, acting through our duly elected representatives in the National Diet, determined that we shall secure for ourselves and our posterity the fruits of peaceful cooperation with all nations and the blessings of liberty throughout this land, and resolved that never again shall we be visited with the horrors of war through the action of government, do proclaim that sovereign power resides with the people and do firmly establish this Constitution…. Government is a sacred trust of the people, the authority for which is derived from the people, the powers of which are exercised by representatives of the people, and the benefits of which are enjoyed by the people.Like weavers of a fine tapestry, the framers of the 1947 constitution sought to construct an elaborate system of representative democracy. Among the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution were the rights to receive an equal education and to organize and bargain collectively. In another extraordinary feature, the Japanese constitution explicitly renounced war and pledged, “land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained.” (This provision has not, however, prevented the government from building limited “self-defense forces.”

Parliament above Emperor

The constitution establishes a parliamentary form of government. The emperor remains the head of state, although as a merely ceremonial figure. The prime minister is the real head of government. The authors of the constitution, however, placed a preponderance of formal power in the new bicameral legislature. That body, called the Diet, is divided into a 480-member House of Representatives elected at least every four years (elections can be more frequent when the House is dissolved) and a relatively less powerful House of Councilors, whose 250 members serve six-year terms (half being elected every other three years).