i consists of the
House of Councillors or Sangi-in (252 seats; one-half of the members
elected every three years--76 seats of which are elected from the 47
multi-seat prefectural districts and 50 of which are elected from a
single nationwide list with voters casting ballots by party; members
elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms) and the House of
Representatives or Shugi-in (500 seats--200 of which are elected from
11 regional blocks on a proportional representation basis and 300 of
which are elected from 300 single-seat districts; members elected by
popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: House of Councillors--last held 12 July 1998 (next to be
held NA July 2001); House of Representatives--last held 20 October
1996 (next to be held by October 2000)
election results: House of Councillors--percent of vote by party--NA;
seats by party--LDP 102, DPJ 47, JCP 23, Komeito 22, SDP 13, Liberal
Party 12, independents 26, others 7; note--the distribution of seats
as of January 1999 is as follows--LDP 104, DPJ 56, Komeito 24, JCP
23, SDP 14, Liberal Party 12, independents 5, others 14; House of
Representatives--percent of vote by party--NA; seats by party--LDP 240,
NFP 142, DPJ 52, JCP 26, SDP 15, Sun Party 10, others 15; note--the
distribution of seats as of January 1999 is as follows--LDP 266, DPJ
94, Komeito/Reform Club 52, Liberal Party 39, JCP 26, SDP 14,
independents 5, others 4

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: Liberal Democratic Party or LDP
president, Hirohisa FUJII, secretary general]; Japan Communist Party
Katsuyuki ISHIDA, secretary general]
note: subsequent to the last legislative elections, the New Frontier
Party or NFP and the Sun Party disbanded; the DPJ was formed by
former members of the SDP and Sakigake and, in April 1998, was
joined by three additional parties which had formed after the NFP
disbanded; New Peace Party and Komei merged to form Komeito in
November 1998

International organization participation: AfDB, APEC, AsDB,
Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE (observer), CERN (observer), CP, EBRD,
ESCAP, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU,
ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat,
Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MTC