House of Councillors (Japan)

Coordinates: 35°40′35.5″N 139°44′40.5″E / 35.676528°N 139.744583°E

House of Councillors 参議院 Sangiin
Type
Type	Upper house
Leadership
President	Masaaki Yamazaki, LDP Since 2 August 2013
Vice President	Azuma Koshiishi, DP Since 2 August 2013
LDP parliamentary group chairman (Government leader)	Kensei Mizote, LDP Since 2013
DP parliamentary group chairman (Opposition leader)	Akira Gunji, DP Since 2013
Structure
Seats	242
Political groups	(by party as of Mar 2016) Government (138):   LDP (115)   Kōmeitō (20)   Independents (3) Opposition (104):   DP (60)   JCP (11)   Initiatives (7)   Energize (4)   PJK (4)   SDP (3)   PLP (3)   NRP (1)   Everyone's Reform Kanagawa (1)   Okinawa Socialist Mass Party (1)   Independents (5)
Elections
Voting system	Parallel voting: Single non-transferable vote (146 seats) Party-list proportional representation (96 seats) Staggered elections
Last election	July 21, 2013
Meeting place
National Diet Building, Tokyo
Website
www.sangiin.go.jp

The House of Councillors (参議院 Sangiin) is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. 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 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 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 elected at each election. Of the 121 members subject to election each time, 73 are elected from the 47 prefectural districts (by single non-transferable vote) and 48 are elected from a nationwide list by proportional representation with open lists. ^[1] 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.

Current composition

(as of April 13, 2016)^[2]

Parliamentary group		Councillors
		mandate expires		total
		2016	2019
	Liberal Democratic Party (Jiyūminshutō)	50	66	116
	The Democratic Party and The Shin-Ryokufukai (Minshintō・Shin-Ryokufūkai)	46	18	64
	Komeito (Kōmeitō)	9	11	20
	Japanese Communist Party (Nihon Kyōsantō)	3	8	11
	Initiatives from Osaka (Ōsaka Ishin no Kai)	2	5	7
	The Assembly to Energize Japan and The Independents (Nippon o genki ni suru kai・Mushozokukai)	2	2	4
	The Party for Japanese Kokoro (Nippon no Kokoro o Taisetsu ni suru Tō)	0	3	3
	Social Democratic Party (Shakaiminshutō・Goken Rengō)	2	1	3
	The People's Life Party & Taro Yamamoto and Friends (Seikatsu no Tō to Yamamoto Tarō to nakamatachi)	2	1	3
	Independents Club (Mushozoku Club)	0	2	2
	New Renaissance Party and Group of Independents (Shintō Kaikaku・Mushozoku no Kai)	1	1	2
	Independents (includes President and Vice President)	4	3	7
Total		121	121	242

For a list of individual members in the election period 2013–2016, see List of members of the Diet of Japan#House of Councilors.

Latest election

 Summary of the 21 July 2013 Japanese House of Councillors election results^[3]

Alliances and parties		Prefectural constituency vote			National PR vote			Not up	Total seats		+/−
		Votes[4]	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats		Total	%	(pre- election)	(last election)
	Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Jimintō – 自民党	22,681,192	42.7	47	18,460,404	34.7	18	50	115	47.5	31	31
	New Komeito Party (NKP) Kōmeitō – 公明党	2,724,447	5.1	4	7,568,080	14.2	7	9	20	8.3	1	1
	LDP–NKP Coalition	25,405,639	47.8	51	26,028,484	48.9	25	59	135	55.8	32	32
	Democratic Party (DPJ) Minshutō – 民主党	8,646,371	16.3	10	7,268,653	13.4	7	42	59	24.4	27	47
	Restoration Party (JRP) Ishin no Kai – 日本維新の会	3,846,649	7.2	2	6,355,299	11.9	6	1	9	3.7	6	New (9)[5]
	Communist Party (JCP) Kyōsantō – 共産党	5,645,937	10.6	3	5,154,055	9.7	5	3	11	4.5	5	5
	Your Party (YP) Minna no Tō – みんなの党	4,159,961	7.8	4	4,755,160	8.9	4	10	18	7.4	5	7
	Social Democratic Party (SDP) Shamintō – 社民党	271,547	0.5	0	1,255,235	2.4	1	2	3	1.2	1	1
	Others	5,096,372	9.7	1[6]	2,547,160[7]	4.8	0	3	4[8]	1.6	12[9]	6[10]
	Independents			2	–			1	3	1.2	3	1
	Total opposition parties	27,666,837	52.2	22	27,335,562	51.1	23	62	107	44.2	27	32
	Totals	53,072,476	100.0	73	52,816,886	100.0	48	121	242	100.0	5*	0
	Turnout	52.61%			52.61%			*(vacant seats)

Historical notes

Article 102 of the Japanese Constitution provided that half of the councillors elected in the first House of Councillors election in 1947 would be up for re-election three years later in order to introduce staggered six-year terms.

From 1947 to 1983, the House had 100 seats allocated to a national block (全国区 zenkoku-ku), of which fifty seats were allocated in each election. It was originally intended to give nationally prominent figures a route to the House without going through local electioneering processes. Some national political figures, such as feminists Shidzue Katō and Fusae Ichikawa and former Imperial Army general Kazushige Ugaki, were elected through the block, along with a number of celebrities such as comedian Yukio Aoshima (later Governor of Tokyo), journalist Hideo Den and actress Yūko Mochizuki. Shintaro Ishihara won a record 3 million votes in the national block in the 1968 election. The national block was last seen in the 1980 election and was replaced with proportional representation in the 1983 election.

The House initially had 250 seats. Two seats were added to the House in 1970^[11] after the agreement on the repatriation of Okinawa for a total of 252. Ten seats were removed in 2001 with the introduction of an open list for proportional representation seats, bringing the total number of seats to 242.

See also

• List of Speakers of the House of Councillors of Japan

References

Specific

1. Hayes 2009, p. 50
2. House of Councillors: Members Strength of the Political Groups in the House (only parliamentary group totals and female members; full Japanese version partitioned by class/end of term and election segment 会派別所属議員数一覧)
3. Final results. NHK. 17 December 2012.
4. Decimals from fractional votes (ambunhyō) rounded to full numbers
5. 6 compared to precursor Sunrise Party of Japan
6. Okinawa Socialist Mass Party
7. People's Life Party 943,836, New Party Daichi 523,146, Green Party 457,862, Green Wind 430,673, Happiness Realization Party 191,643
8. People's Life Party, 2, New Renaissance Party 1, Okinawa Socialist Mass Party 1
9. People's Life Party 6, Okinawa Socialist Mass Party , New Renaissance Party 1, Green Wind 4, New Party Daichi 1, Others
10. 9 if Sunrise Party of Japan is included
11. House of Councillors: Changes to the electoral system of the House of Councillors (Japanese)

Bibliography

• Hayes, L. D., 2009. Introduction to Japanese Politics. 5th ed. New York: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-7656-2279-2

External links

• House of Councillors Website (in English)
• House of Councillors internet TV - Official site (in Japanese)