The is the
upper houseAn upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.- Possible specific characteristics :An upper house is usually distinct from the lower house in at least one of the following respects:...
of the
Diet of JapanThe is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...
. The
House of RepresentativesThe is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for four-year terms. Of these, 180 are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation, and 300...
is the
lower houseA lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its theoretical position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...
. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war
House of PeersThe ' was the upper house of the Imperial Diet as mandated under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan ....
, the Japanese equivalent of the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
House of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". Parliament comprises the Sovereign, the House of Commons , and the Lords...
. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or designation of the prime minister, the House of Representatives can insist on its decision. In all other decisions, the House of Representatives can override a vote of the House of Councillors only by a two-thirds majority of members present.
The is the
upper houseAn upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.- Possible specific characteristics :An upper house is usually distinct from the lower house in at least one of the following respects:...
of the
Diet of JapanThe is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...
. The
House of RepresentativesThe is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for four-year terms. Of these, 180 are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation, and 300...
is the
lower houseA lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its theoretical position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...
. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war
House of PeersThe ' was the upper house of the Imperial Diet as mandated under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan ....
, the Japanese equivalent of the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
House of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". Parliament comprises the Sovereign, the House of Commons , and the Lords...
. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or designation of the prime minister, the House of Representatives can insist on its decision. In all other decisions, the House of Representatives can override a vote of the House of Councillors only by a two-thirds majority of members present. However with the introduction of
proportional representationProportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of electoral formula aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive...
in the House of Representatives, the upper house has significantly enhanced its power to block legislation with final effect at the expense of the former where the government fails to attain the two-thirds mark in almost every general election, such as in the recent case of the
Postal Privatisation Billwas a government-owned corporation in Japan, that existed from 2003–2007, offering postal and package delivery services, banking services, and life insurance. It had over 400,000 employees and ran 24,700 post offices throughout Japan and was the nation's largest employer. One third of all Japanese...
block; this development has made the House of Councillors quite powerful, perhaps approaching the
Australian SenateThe Senate is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia. The lower house is known as the House of Representatives. Senators, popularly elected under a system of proportional representation, serve terms of six years...
or the
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
in its ability to influence public policy.
The House of Councillors has 242 members who each serve six-year terms, two years longer than those of the House of Representatives. Councillors must be at least 30 years old, compared with 25 years old in the House of Representatives. The House cannot be dissolved, as only half of its membership is re-elected at each election, using a
parallel votingParallel voting describes a mixed voting system where voters in effect participate in two separate elections using different systems, and where the results in one election have little or no impact on the results of the other...
system. Of the 121 members subject to election each time, 73 are elected from the 47 prefectural districts (by
single non-transferable voteThe single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used in multi-member constituency elections.- Voting :In any election, each voter casts one vote for one candidate in a multi-candidate race for multiple offices. Posts are filled by the candidates with the most votes...
) and 48 are elected from a nationwide list by
proportional representationProportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of electoral formula aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive...
with
open listOpen list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected...
s.
Up to the 1998 election, there were 252 members, 126 elected at a time: 76 from prefectural districts and 50 elected nationwide. At the 2001 elections these numbers were reduced and the total number was 247 (126 elected in 1998 and 121 elected in 2001) and the open list preference vote was introduced.
See
List of members of the Diet of Japan for the list of current members of the House of Councillors.
External links