others 12; 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 December 1999 is as follows -
LDP 267, DPJ 93, Komeito/Reform Club 48, Liberal Party 39, JCP 26, SDP
14, independents 9, 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: Democratic Party of Japan or DPJ [Yukio
HATOYAMA, leader, Tsutomu HATA, secretary general]; Japan Communist
Party or JCP ;
Komeito [Takenori KANZAKI, president, Tetsuzo FUYUSHIBA, secretary
general]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Yoshiro MORI, president,
Hiromu NONAKA, secretary general]; Liberal Party [Ichiro OZAWA,
president, Hirohisa FUJII, secretary general]; Reform Club [Tatsuo
OZAWA, leader, Katsuyuki ISHIDA, secretary general]; Social Democratic
Party or SDP [Takako DOI, chairperson, Sadao FUCHIGAMI, secretary
general]
note: subsequent to the last legislative elections, the New Frontier
Party or NFP and the Sun Party disbanded; in late 1997, the LP was
formed by former NFP members; 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, NAM (guest), NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW,
OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR,
UNRWA, UNU, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Shunji YANAI
chancery: 2520 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: (202) 238-6700
FAX: (202) 328-2187
consulate(s) general: Hagatna (Guam), Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston,
Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Kansas City (Missouri),
Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Portland (Oregon), San
Francisco, and Seattle
consulate(s): Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands)

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Thomas