Prime Minister of Japan

The Prime Minister of Japan (内閣総理大臣 Naikaku sōri daijin) is the English political nomenclature of the head of government of Japan. The Prime Minister is appointed by the Emperor of Japan after being designated by the Diet from among its members, and must enjoy the confidence of the House of Representatives to remain in office. The Prime Minister is the head of the Cabinet and appoints and dismisses the Ministers of State. The current Prime Minister of Japan, since 2001, is Junichiro Koizumi.

Role

The Prime Minister:

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• "Exercises control and supervision" over the executive branch.
• Chairs meetings of the Cabinet.
• Appoints and dismisses Ministers of State.
• Permits legal action to be taken against Ministers of State.
• Counter-signs, along with the competent minister, all laws and cabinet orders.

Theoretically, the Prime Minister is very powerful, with a role most similar to the German chancellor in the West and even greater because of Japan's unitary form of government. However, because of the factionalised and consensus-based nature of Japanese politics in the Diet and with the perpetual creation of coalition governments under the proportional representation schemes, the Prime Minister has much less actual power than his/her counterpart of many other nations. His position as president of the largest party involves negotiation with main party faction and coalition leaders, and legislation is usually initiated and reviewed by party committees rather than by the cabinet. Furthermore, substantial power is actually wielded by the civil service, over which the Prime Minister has little control.

Related Topics:
German chancellor - Coalition governments - Proportional representation - Civil service

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