The is the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

National Diet The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors (, ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The

House of Councillors The 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, ...

is the

upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

. The composition of the House is established by and of the

Constitution of Japan The Constitution of Japan (Shinjitai: , Kyūjitai: , Hepburn: ) is the constitution of Japan and the supreme law in the state. Written primarily by American civilian officials working under the Allied occupation of Japan, the constitution r ...

. The House of Representatives has 465 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

, and 289 are elected from single-member constituencies. The overall voting system used to elect the House of Representatives is a parallel system, a form of

semi-proportional representation Semi-proportional representation characterizes multi-winner electoral systems which allow representation of minorities, but are not intended to reflect the strength of the competing political forces in close proportion to the votes they receive. S ...

. Under a parallel system the allocation of list seats does not take into account the outcome in the single seat constituencies. Therefore, the overall allocation of seats in the House of Representatives is not proportional, to the advantage of larger parties. In contrast, in bodies such as the German ''

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

'' or the

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand ( King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by h ...

the election of single-seat members and party list members is linked, so that the overall result respects proportional representation fully or to some degree. The House of Representatives is the more powerful of the two houses, able to override vetoes on bills imposed by the House of Councillors with a two-thirds majority. The last election for the House of Representatives was held on 31 October 2021 in which the Liberal Democratic Party won a majority government with 261 seats. Along with their coalition partner, Komeito, which won 32 seats, the governing coalition holds 293 seats in total.

Right to vote and candidature

* Japanese nationals aged 18 years and older may vote (prior to 2016, the voting age was 20). * Japanese nationals aged 25 years and older may run for office in the lower house.

Differences between the Upper and Lower Houses

The House of Representatives has several powers not given to the House of Councillors. If a bill is passed by the

(the House of Representatives) but is voted down by the

(the

) the House of Representatives can override the decision of the House of Councillors by a two-thirds vote in the affirmative. However, in the case of

treaties A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

, the budget, and the selection of the prime minister, the House of Councillors can only delay passage, but not block the legislation. As a result, the House of Representatives is considered the more powerful house. Members of the House of Representatives, who are elected to a maximum of four years, sit for a shorter term than members of the

, who are elected to full six-year terms. The lower house can also be dissolved by the Prime Minister or the passage of a nonconfidence motion, while the House of Councillors cannot be dissolved. Thus the House of Representatives is considered to be more sensitive to public opinion, and is termed the "lower house". While the legislative term is nominally 4 years, early elections for the lower house are very common, and the median lifespan of postwar legislatures has in practice been around 3 years.

Current composition

For a list of majoritarian members and proportional members from Hokkaidō, see the

List of members of the Diet of Japan This is a list of members of the Diet of Japan. The Diet has two chambers: the House of Councillors (upper house) and the House of Representatives (lower house). Councillors serve six year terms, with half being elected every three years. Represe ...

Latest election result

Election results for major parties since 1958

Shaded * green: Ruling party/coalition before and after the lower house election * red: Ruling party/coalition ''until'' the election = Change of government as a result of the lower house election * blue: Ruling party/coalition ''after'' the election = Change of government as a result of the lower house election * none: Opposition before and after the election ''Note that the composition of the ruling coalition may change between lower house elections, e.g. after upper house elections. Parties who vote with the government in the Diet, but are not part of the cabinet (e.g. SDP & NPH after the 1996 election) are not shaded.''

Parallel electoral system (since 1996)

, - ! style="background:#e9e9e9" , Parties ! style="background:#e9e9e9" , Segment ! 1996

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications The is a cabinet-level ministry in the Government of Japan. Its English name was Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) prior to 2004. It is housed in the 2nd Building of the Central Common Government Of ...

(MIC/Sōmushō)
第４１回衆議院議員総選挙結果
/ref> !!

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

MIC
第４２回衆議院議員総選挙結果
/ref> !! 2003MIC
衆議院議員総選挙・最高裁判所裁判官国民審査結果調
/ref> !!

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

MIC
平成17年9月11日執行　衆議院議員総選挙・最高裁判所裁判官国民審査結果調
/ref> !! 2009MIC
平成21年8月30日執行　衆議院議員総選挙・最高裁判所裁判官国民審査結果調
/ref> !!

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

!! 2014 !! 2017 , - ! colspan="2" , Total seats !! 500 !! 480 !! 480 !! 480 !! 480 !! 480 !! 475 !! 465 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5", Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ''Jiyū Minshutō'' , , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", FPTP , 38.6% , , 41.0% , , 43.9% , , 47.8% , , 38.6% , , 43.0% , , 48.1% , , 48.21% , - , 169 , , 177 , , 168 , , 219 , , 64 , , 237 , , 223 , , 226 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", PR , 32.8% , , 28.3% , , 35.0% , , 38.1% , , 26.7% , , 27.6% , , 33.1% , , 33.28% , - , 70 , , 56 , , 69 , , 77 , , 55 , , 57 , , 68 , , 66 , - , style="text-align:left;", Total seats , , style="background:#cfc;", 239 , , style="background:#cfc;", 233 , , style="background:#cfc;", 237 , , style="background:#cfc;", 296 , , style="background:#fcc;", 119 , , style="background:#ccf;", 294 , , style="background:#cfc;", 291 , , style="background:#cfc;", 284 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5",

Constitutional Democratic Party ) , newspaper = ''Rech'' , ideology = ConstitutionalismConstitutional monarchismLiberal democracyParliamentarism Political pluralismSocial liberalism , position = Centre to centre-left , international = , colours ...

(CDP) ''Rikken Minshutō'' , , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", FPTP , colspan="7" rowspan="5" , – , , 8.75% , - , 18 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", PR , 19.88% , - , 37 , - , style="text-align:left;", Total seats , , 55 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5", Party of Hope ''Kibō no Tō'' , , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", FPTP , colspan="7" rowspan="5" , – , , 20.64% , - , 18 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", PR , 17.36% , - , 32 , - , style="text-align:left;", Total seats , , 50 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5",

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic Part ...

(DPJ) ''Minshutō'' (1996–2014)

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

(DP) ''Minshintō'' (2017) , , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", FPTP , 10.6% , , 27.6% , , 36.7% , , 36.4% , , 47.4% , , 22.8% , , 22.5% , , rowspan="5" , ''no party
nominations,
≈14 members
elected'' , - , 17 , , 80 , , 105 , , 52 , , 221 , , 27 , , 38 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", PR , 16.1% , , 25.2% , , 37.4% , , 31.0% , , 42.4% , , 15.9% , , 18.3% , - , 35 , , 47 , , 72 , , 61 , , 87 , , 30 , , 35 , - , style="text-align:left;", Total seats , , 52 , , 127 , , 177 , , 113 , , style="background:#ccf;", 308 , , style="background:#fcc;", 57 , , 73 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5",

Japan Restoration Party The , also referred to in English as the Japan Restoration Association, was a Japanese political party. It was launched on 12 September 2012 and gained official recognition on 28 September 2012. The party grew from the regional Osaka Restoration ...

(JRP) ''Nippon Ishin no Kai'' (2012)

Japan Innovation Party The was a political party in Japan. It was launched on 22 September 2014, following the merger of the Japan Restoration Party headed by Tōru Hashimoto, and the Unity Party, led by Kenji Eda. On 27 March 2016 the party merged with the Democra ...

(JIP) ''Ishin no Tō'' (2014) , , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", FPTP , colspan="5" rowspan="5" , – , , 11.6% , , 8.2% , , 3.18% , - , 14 , , 11 , , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", PR , 20.3% , , 15.7% , , 6.07% , - , 40 , , 30 , , 8 , - , style="text-align:left;", Total seats , , 54 , , 41 , , 11 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5", (New) Komeito (K/NK/NKP/CGP/NCGP/etc.) ''Kōmeitō'' , , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", FPTP , rowspan="5" , – , , 2.0% , , 1.5% , , 1.4% , , 1.1% , , 1.4% , , 1.5% , , 1.5% , - , 7 , , 9 , , 8 , , 0 , , 9 , , 9 , , 8 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", PR , 13.0% , , 14.8% , , 13.3% , , 11.4% , , 11.8% , , 13.7% , , 12.51% , - , 24 , , 25 , , 23 , , 21 , , 22 , , 26 , , 21 , - , style="text-align:left;", Total seats , style="background:#cfc;", 31 , , style="background:#cfc;", 34 , , style="background:#cfc;", 31 , , style="background:#fcc;", 21 , , style="background:#ccf;", 31 , , style="background:#cfc;", 35 , , style="background:#cfc;", 29 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5",

Japanese Communist Party The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...

(JCP) ''Nihon Kyōsantō'' , , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", FPTP , 12.6% , , 12.1% , , 8.1% , , 7.2% , , 4.2% , , 7.8% , , 13.3% , , 9.02% , - , 2 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 1 , , 1 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", PR , 13.1% , , 11.2% , , 7.8% , , 7.2% , , 7.0% , , 6.1% , , 11.4% , , 7.9% , - , 24 , , 20 , , 9 , , 9 , , 9 , , 8 , , 20 , , 11 , - , style="text-align:left;", Total seats , , 26 , , 20 , , 9 , , 9 , , 9 , , 8 , , 21 , , 12 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5",

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SDP) ''Shakai Minshutō'' , , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", FPTP , 2.2% , , 3.8% , , 2.9% , , 1.5% , , 1.9% , , 0.7% , , 0.8% , , 1.15% , - , 4 , , 4 , , 1 , , 1 , , 3 , , 1 , , 1 , , 1 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", PR , 6.4% , , 9.4% , , 5.1% , , 5.5% , , 4.2% , , 2.3% , , 2.5% , , 1.69% , - , 11 , , 15 , , 5 , , 6 , , 4 , , 1 , , 1 , , 1 , - , style="text-align:left;", Total seats , , style="background:#fcc;", 15 , , 19 , , 6 , , 7 , , style="background:#ccf;", 7 , , 2 , , 2 , , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5", New Frontier Party (NFP) ''Shinshintō'' (1996)

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

''Jiyūtō'' (2000)

Tomorrow Party of Japan , also known as the Japan Future Party, was a Japanese political party, formed on 28 November 2012 by Governor of Shiga Prefecture Yukiko Kada and dissolved in May 2013. Kada created the party as an alternative to the then-ruling Democratic ...

(TPJ) ''Nippon Mirai no Tō'' (2012)

People's Life Party The was a political party in Japan that merged with the Democratic Party for the People on 26 April 2019. It had 2 out of the 475 seats in the House of Representatives, and 3 in the 242-member House of Councillors prior to merging. Formed as th ...

(PLP) ''Seikatsu no Tō'' (2014)
Liberal Party (LP) ''Jiyūtō'' (2017) , , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", FPTP , 28.0% , , 3.4% , , colspan="3" rowspan="5" , – , , 5.0% , , 1.0% , , rowspan="5" , ''no party
nominations,
2 members
elected'' , - , 96 , , 4 , , 2 , , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", PR , 28.0% , , 11.0% , , 5.7% , , 1.9% , - , 60 , , 18 , , 7 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;", Total seats , , 156 , , 22 , , 9 , , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5",

Your Party is a Japanese parliamentary caucus consisting of Yoshimi Watanabe and Takashi Tachibana, later Satoshi Hamada after Tachibana forfeited his seat, in the House of Councillors. It was also a political party led by Watanabe from 2009 until its d ...

(YP) ''Minna no Tō'' , , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", FPTP , colspan="4" rowspan="5" , – , , 0.8% , , 4.7% , , colspan="2" rowspan="5" , – , - , 2 , , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", PR , 4.2% , , 8.7% , - , 3 , , 14 , - , style="text-align:left;", Total seats , , 5 , , 19 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5",

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

''Hoshutō'' (2000)

New Conservative Party New Conservative Party (or similar names) may refer to: * New Conservative Party (UK), 1960–1962 * New Conservative Group, Australia, 1991–1992 * New Conservative Party (Japan), 2000–2003 * New Zealand Conservative Party, 1996-c.1998 * New C ...

''Hoshu Shintō'' (2003) , , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", FPTP , rowspan="5" , – , , 2.0% , , 1.3% , , colspan="5" rowspan="5" , – , - , 7 , , 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", PR , 0.4% , , – , - , 0 , , – , - , style="text-align:left;", Total seats , , style="background:#cfc;", 7 , , style="background:#cfc;", 4 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5", New Party Harbinger (NPH) ''Shintō Sakigake'' , , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", FPTP , 1.3% , , colspan="7" rowspan="5" , – , - , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", PR , 1.0% , - , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;", Total seats , , style="background:#fcc;", 2

SNTV multi-member districts (1947–1993)

, - ! style="background:#e9e9e9" , Parties ! 1958

, statistics bureau
衆議院議員総選挙の党派別当選者数及び得票数（昭和33年～平成5年）
/ref> !! 1960 !!

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

!! 1967 !! 1969 !!

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

!! 1979 !! 1980 !! 1983 !!

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

!! 1993 , - ! Total seats !! 467 !! 467 !! 467 !! 486 !! 486 !! 491 !! 511 !! 511 !! 511 !! 511 !! 512 !! 512 !! 511 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ''Jiyū Minshutō'' , 57.8% , , 57.6% , , 54.7% , , 48.8% , , 47.6% , , 46.8% , , 41.8% , , 44.6% , , 47.9% , , 48.9% , , 49.4% , , 46.1% , , 36.7% , - style="background:#cfc;" , 287 , , 296 , , 283 , , 277 , , 288 , , 271 , , 249 , , 248 , , 284 , , 250 , , 300 , , 275 , , style="background:#fcc;", 223 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2",

Japan Socialist Party The was a socialist and progressive political party in Japan that existed from 1945 to 1996. The party was founded as the Social Democratic Party of Japan by members of several proletarian parties that existed before World War II, including ...

(JSP) ''Nippon Shakaitō'' , 32.9% , , 27.6% , , 29.0% , , 27.9% , , 21.4% , , 21.9% , , 20.7% , , 19.7% , , 19.3% , , 19.5% , , 17.2% , , 24.4% , , 15.4% , - , 166 , , 145 , , 144 , , 140 , , 90 , , 118 , , 123 , , 107 , , 107 , , 112 , , 85 , , 136 , , style="background:#ccf;", 70 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2",

Japan Renewal Party The was a Japanese political party that existed in the early 1990s. It was founded in 1993 by 44 members of the Liberal Democratic Party led by Tsutomu Hata and Ichirō Ozawa. It was instrumental in ending the LDP's 38-year dominance of Japanese ...

(JRP) ''Shinseitō'' , colspan="12" rowspan="2", – , , 10.1% , - , style="background:#ccf;", 55 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2",

Kōmeitō , formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalit ...

(K/KP/CGP/etc.) ''Kōmeitō'' , colspan="3" rowspan="2" , – , , 5.4% , , 10.9% , , 8.5% , , 11.0% , , 9.8% , , 9.0% , , 10.1% , , 9.4% , , 8.0% , , 8.1% , - , 25 , , 47 , , 29 , , 55 , , 57 , , 33 , , 58 , , 56 , , 45 , , style="background:#ccf;", 51 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2",

Japan New Party The was a Japanese political party that existed briefly from 1992 to 1994. The party, considered liberal, was founded by Morihiro Hosokawa, a former Diet member and Kumamoto Prefecture governor, who left the Liberal Democratic Party to protest ...

(JNP) ''Nihon Shintō'' , colspan="12" rowspan="2" , – , , 8.0% , - , style="background:#ccf;", 35 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) ''Minshatō'' , rowspan="2" , – , , 8.8% , , 7.4% , , 7.4% , , 7.7% , , 7.0% , , 6.3% , , 6.8% , , 6.6% , , 7.3% , , 6.4% , , 4.8% , , 3.5% , - , 17 , , 23 , , 30 , , 31 , , 19 , , 29 , , 35 , , 32 , , 38 , , 26 , , 14 , , style="background:#ccf;", 15 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2",

(JCP) ''Nihon Kyōsantō'' , 2.6% , , 2.9% , , 4.0% , , 4.8% , , 6.8% , , 10.5% , , 10.4% , , 10.4% , , 9.8% , , 9.3% , , 8.8% , , 8.0% , , 7.7% , - , 1 , , 3 , , 5 , , 5 , , 14 , , 38 , , 17 , , 39 , , 29 , , 26 , , 26 , , 16 , , 15 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", New Party Harbinger (NPH) ''Shintō Sakigake'' , colspan="12" rowspan="2" , – , , 3.5% , - , style="background:#ccf;", 13

History

Meiji period (1890–1912)

The Japanese parliament, then known as the Imperial Diet, was established in 1890 as a result of the 1889

Meiji Constitution The Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Kyūjitai: ; Shinjitai: , ), known informally as the Meiji Constitution (, ''Meiji Kenpō''), was the constitution of the Empire of Japan which was proclaimed on February 11, 1889, and remained in for ...

. It was modeled on the parliaments of several Western countries, particularly the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

and the United Kingdom, because of the

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

's westernizing reforms. The Imperial Diet consisted of two chambers, the elected House of Representatives which was the lower house, and the House of Peers which was the upper house. This format was similar to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

in the Westminster system, or the Herrenhaus in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

, where the upper house represented the

aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At t ...

. Both houses, and also the Emperor, had to agree on legislation, and even at the height of party-based constitutional government, the House of Peers could simply vote down bills deemed too liberal by the

Meiji oligarchy The Meiji oligarchy was the new ruling class of Meiji period Japan. In Japanese, the Meiji oligarchy is called the . The members of this class were adherents of ''kokugaku'' and believed they were the creators of a new order as grand as that est ...

, such as the introduction of

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, increases in local autonomy, or

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

rights. The

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

and his government served at the Emperor's pleasure, and could not be removed by the Imperial Diet. However, the right to vote on, and if necessary to block, legislation including the budget, gave the House of Representatives leverage to force the government into negotiations. After an early period of frequent confrontation and temporary alliances between the cabinet and political parties in the lower house, parts of the Meiji oligarchy more sympathetic to political parties around

Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the ''genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated samur ...

and parts of the liberal parties eventually formed a more permanent alliance, in the form of the Rikken Seiyūkai in 1900. The confidence of the House of Representatives was never a formal requirement to govern, but between 1905 and 1918, only one cabinet took office that did not enjoy majority support in the House of Representatives.

Taisho and early Showa periods (1912–1937)

During the

Taishō political crisis The was a period of political upheaval in Japan that occurred after the death of the Meiji Emperor in 1912. During the twelve-month period following the emperor's death, the Japanese government was led by three different Prime Minister of Japan ...

in 1913, a

no-confidence vote A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

against the third Katsura government, accompanied by major demonstrations outside the Diet, was followed shortly by resignation. Subsequently, in the period often referred to as Taishō democracy, it became increasingly customary to appoint many ministers, including several prime ministers, from the House of Representatives –

Hara Takashi was a Japanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1918 to 1921. Hara held several minor ambassadorial roles before rising through the ranks of the Rikken Seiyūkai and being elected to the House of Representatives. Hara ...

was the first commoner to become prime minister in 1918. In the same year, the

Rice Riots The were a series of popular disturbances that erupted throughout Japan from July to September 1918, which brought about the collapse of the Terauchi Masatake administration. Causes A precipitous rise in the price of rice caused extreme economi ...

had confronted the government with an unprecedented scale of domestic unrest, and a German Revolution brought the Prusso-German monarchy to an end, the very system Meiji oligarchs had used as the main model for the Meiji constitution to consolidate and preserve Imperial power. Even

Yamagata Aritomo '' Gensui'' Prince , also known as Prince Yamagata Kyōsuke, was a senior-ranking Japanese military commander, twice-elected Prime Minister of Japan, and a leading member of the '' genrō'', an élite group of senior statesmen who dominated J ...

and other oligarchs that had been fundamentally opposed to political parties, became more inclined to cooperate with the still mainly

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

parties, to prevent a rise of socialism or other movements that might threaten Imperial rule. Socialist parties would not be represented in significant numbers in the lower house until the 1930s. The initially very high

census suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

requirement was reduced several times, until the introduction of

universal male suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the slo ...

in 1925. The electoral system to the House of Representatives was also fundamentally changed several times: between systems of "small" mostly single- and few multi-member electoral districts (1890s, 1920, 1924), "medium" mostly multi-member districts (1928–1942) and "large" electoral districts (usually only one, rarely two city and one counties district per prefecture; 1900s and 1910s), using

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

in single-member districts,

plurality-at-large voting Plurality block voting, also known as plurality-at-large voting, block vote or block voting (BV) is a non- proportional voting system for electing representatives in multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of sea ...

(1890s) or

single non-transferable vote Single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used to elect multiple winners. It is a generalization of first-past-the-post, applied to multi-member districts with each voter casting just one vote. Unlike FPTP, which is a single-winn ...

in the multi-member districts. Influence of the House of Representatives on the government increased, and the party cabinets of the 1920s brought Japan apparently closer to a

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

of government, and there were several reforms to the upper house in 1925. However, the balance of powers between the two houses and the influential role of extra-constitutional actors such as the

Genrō was an unofficial designation given to certain retired elder Japanese statesmen who served as informal extraconstitutional advisors to the emperor, during the Meiji, Taishō, and Shōwa eras in Japanese history. The institution of ''genrō ...

(who still selected the prime minister) or the military (that had brought down several cabinets) remained in essence untouched. Within a year of the

Japanese invasion of Manchuria The Empire of Japan's Kwantung Army invaded Manchuria on 18 September 1931, immediately following the Mukden Incident. At the war's end in February 1932, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo. Their occupation lasted until the ...

in September 1931, a series of assassinations and coup attempts followed. Party governments were replaced by governments of "national unity" (''kyokoku itchi'') which were dominated by nobles, bureaucrats and increasingly the military.

World War II and aftermath (1937–1947)

After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident and the start of war in 1937, the influence of the Imperial Diet was further diminished, though never fully eliminated, by special laws such as the

National Mobilization Law was legislated in the Diet of Japan by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe on 24 March 1938 to put the national economy of the Empire of Japan on war-time footing after the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The National Mobilization Law had fifty c ...

and expanded powers for cabinet agencies such as the Planning Board. The House of Representatives in the Empire had a four-year term and could be dissolved by the Emperor. In contrast, members of the House of Peers had either

life tenure A life tenure or service during good behaviour is a term of office that lasts for the office holder's lifetime, unless the office holder is removed from office for cause under misbehaving in office, extraordinary circumstances or decides personall ...

(subject to revocation by the Emperor) or a seven-year term in the case of members elected in mutual peerage elections among the three lower peerage ranks, top taxpayer and academic peerage elections. During the war, the term of the members of the House of Representatives elected in the last pre-war election of 1937 was extended by one year. In the 1946 election to the House of Representatives, held under the U.S.-led

Allied occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the victorious Allies of World War II from the 1945 surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of the war until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect in 1952. The occupation, led by the United States w ...

, women's suffrage was introduced, and a system of "large" electoral districts (one or two per prefecture) with

limited voting Limited voting (also known as partial block voting) is a voting system in which electors have fewer votes than there are positions available. The positions are awarded to the candidates who receive the most votes absolutely. In the special case ...

was used. A change in the electoral law in April 1945 had for the first time allocated 30 seats to the established colonies of the Empire: Karafuto (

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh: ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, and Chōsen (

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

); but this change was never implemented. Similarly, Korea and Taiwan were granted several appointed members of the House of Peers in 1945. In 1946, both houses of the Imperial Diet (together with the Emperor) passed the postwar constitution which took effect in 1947. The Imperial Diet was renamed the National Diet, the House of Peers was replaced by an elected upper house called the House of Councillors, and the House of Representatives would now be able to override the upper house in important matters. The constitution also gave the Diet exclusive legislative authority, without involvement of the Emperor, and explicitly made the cabinet responsible to the Diet and requires that the prime minister has the support of a majority in the House of Representatives.

Late Showa period (1947–1989)

The Diet first met under the new constitution on 20 May 1947. Four days later,

Tetsu Katayama was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1947 to 1948. He bears the distinction of having been the first socialist to serve as Prime Minister of Japan. Early life He was born in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture on 28 July ...

of the Democratic Socialist Party became Japan's first socialist prime minister and the first since the introduction of parliamentarianism. Since the end of US rule in 1952, it has been the norm that the prime minister dissolves the House of Representatives before its 4-year term expires. Only once, in 1976, did the House last a full 4 years. It has become tradition to give nicknames to each dissolution, usually referencing a major political issue or controversy. One infamous example was on 14 March 1953, when

Shigeru Yoshida (22 September 1878 – 20 October 1967) was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954. Yoshida was one of the longest-serving Japanese prime ministers, and is the third-long ...

dissolved the House and called for new election, after he name called people during a meeting of the budget committee. This came to be known as the ''"you idiot" dissolution''.Dissolving the House of Representatives: A Powerful Political Tool - nippon.com
/ref> In 1955, prime minister

Ichirō Hatoyama was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1954 to 1956. A conservative, Hatoyama helped oversee the 1955 merger of the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party to create the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), of which Hatoyam ...

oversaw the creation of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which since his third government has dominated Japanese politics under the 1955 System. The LDP would govern without interruption for nearly 40 years until the 1993 election, alone save for a three-year coalition government with the New Liberal Club after the 1983 election. Hatoyama planned to change the electoral system to

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

, introducing a bill to that effect in March 1956. This was met with opposition from the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

, who criticized Hatoyama's plan as a " Hatomander". The bill passed the House of Representatives in May 1956, but was never voted on by the House of Councillors. Electoral reform came into vogue again in the 1970s, but

Kakuei Tanaka was a Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1947 to 1990, and was Prime Minister of Japan from 1972 to 1974. After a power struggle with Takeo Fukuda, he became the most influential member of the ruling Liberal ...

's plan met opposition internally in the LDP and never came to a vote in either chamber of the Diet.

Recent history (since 1989)

Japan entered a lengthy recession in the 1990s (see

Lost Decades The was a period of economic stagnation in Japan caused by the asset price bubble's collapse in late 1991. The term originally referred to the 1990s, but the 2000s (Lost 20 Years, 失われた20年) and the 2010s (Lost 30 Years, 失われた ...

), which many people blamed on the LDP. In the 1993 election, the party lost power for the first time under the 1955 System, when an eight-party coalition led by

Morihiro Hosokawa is a Japanese politician and noble who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1993 to 1994, leading a coalition government which was the first non- Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government of Japan since 1955. After a funding scandal in early 1994, h ...

of the

were able to form a government. This government fell apart after nine months, and was succeeded by the

Hata Cabinet The Hata Cabinet governed Japan for two months from April 28 to June 30, 1994, under the leadership of Tsutomu Hata of the Japan Renewal Party. Political background Hata became Prime Minister following the resignation of Morihiro Hosokawa as hea ...

, another short-lived non-LDP government. The LDP returned to power in 1994 with the

Murayama Cabinet The governed Japan under the leadership of Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama from 1994 until a 1995 Cabinet Reshuffle. Murayama was elected prime minister by the National Diet on 29 June 1994 after the threat of a no-confidence vote had brought d ...

, this time in a coalition with their old rivals the Socialists, whose leader

Tomiichi Murayama is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1994 to 1996. He led the Japanese Socialist Party, and was responsible for changing its name to the Social Democratic Party (Japan), Social Democratic Party of Japan in 1996. Up ...

became prime minister. As with party colleagues

and

before him, prime minister

Toshiki Kaifu was a Japanese politician who served as the 77th Prime Minister of Japan from 1989 to 1991. Early life and education Kaifu was born on 2 January 1931, in Nagoya City, the eldest of six brothers. His family's business Nakamura Photo Studio w ...

of the LDP unsuccessfully tried to reform the electoral system in 1991. However, the Morihiro Hosokawa government got the

1994 Japanese electoral reform The 1994 electoral reform in Japan was a change from the previous single non-transferable vote (SNTV) system of multi-member districts (MMD) to a mixed electoral system of single-member districts (SMD) with plurality voting and a party list syst ...

through the Diet, introducing a

parallel voting Parallel voting is a type of mixed electoral system in which representatives are voted into a single chamber using two or more different systems, most often first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) with party-list proportional representation (PR). It is ...

system which went into effect at the next election in 1996. Under this system, which remains in effect as of 2022, 300 (since reduced to 289) members of the House of Representatives are elected using

in single-member constituencies, while 200 (since reduced to 176) members are elected in regional blocs using

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...

. The LDP once again lost power at the 2009 election, when the

-led

Hatoyama Cabinet The Yukio Hatoyama Cabinet governed Japan from September 2009 to June 2010, following the landslide victory of the Democratic Party of Japan in the election on 30 August 2009. The election marked the first time in Japanese post-war history that v ...

took over. The LDP and

Komeito , formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalitio ...

, which had formed a two-party government between 2003 and 2009, came to power again after the 2012 election.

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...

, who had previously led the First Abe Cabinet, was prime minister for another stint lasting eight years.

List of House of Representatives general elections

19th century

20th century

21st century

Members (since 1990)

References

External links

House of Representatives Website (in English)
– Official site of the House of Representatives
House of Representatives Internet TV
Official site {{DEFAULTSORT:House Of Representatives Of Japan Government of Japan

National Diet