xpires. The house of Counselors consists of 252 members who are chosen for 6-year terms, where they most likely will serve their full term.Twelve members of the cabinet preside over departments or ministries of the government, which include the ministries of justice, foreign affairs, finance, education, health and welfare, agriculture and forestry, and labor. The remaining cabinet members are the so-called “ministers of the state,” which include the deputy prime minister and heads of various agencies such as the economic planning agency and the science and technology agency.Most of the time a minister will only remain in office for only one year, because of the high turnover in the cabinet. Bureaucrats provide the diet with the expert knowledge required for long term planning, which is commonly emphasized in Japan. Japan has a multiparty system in which one party, the Liberal Democratic Party, has been dominant since it was founded in 1955. They also have left opposition parties. The leading opposition party is the Japanese Socialist party that has constantly held more than 100 seats in the Diet. The second opposition group on the left is the Japanese communist party, a legal party that has held less than 10 percent of the seats in the diet. The third and last opposition party is the Komei, or “clean government party.” Its objective is to purify Japanese politics and improve the quality of life in Japan....
