The Diet
Japan is generally considered to be a constitutional monarchy, based largely on the British system. The "highest organ of state power" is its bicameral parliament, the Kokkai or "Diet". The Diet consists of a House of Representatives (Lower House or Shu-gi-in) containing 480 seats, elected by popular vote every four years or when dissolved, and a House of Councillors (Upper House or Sangi-in) of 247 seats, whose popularly elected members serve six-year terms. There is universal adult (over 20 years old) suffrage with a secret ballot for all elective offices.

The Cabinet is composed of a Prime Minister and ministers of state, and is responsible to the Diet. The Prime Minister must be a member of the Diet and is designated by his colleagues. The Prime Minister has the power to appoint and remove ministers, a majority of whom must be Diet members. The conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been in power since 1955, except for a short-lived coalition government formed from its opposition parties in 1993; the largest opposition party is the liberal-socialist Democratic Party of Japan.

The Imperial Household
Japan's head of state is the Emperor, but under the current constitution he performs only ceremonial duties and holds no real power, not even emergency reserve powers. Sovereignty, previously embodied in the Emperor, is vested in the Japanese people by the Constitution, and the Emperor is defined as the symbol of the State and of national unity. The Imperial Household Agency (Kunaicho) is responsible for the daily running of the palace.

Akihito is the current and 125th Emperor of Japan. He assumed the throne after the death of his father, Hirohito, on January 7, 1989, formally becoming the 125th Japanese monarch on November 12, 1990. His son, Crown Prince Naruhito, married a commoner, Masako Owada, and the couple gave birth to a girl, Princess Aiko. The Imperial Household Law of 1947 limits succession to males: since neither of the former Emperor Hirohito's sons have a direct male descendant, some public and parliament members perceive Chrysanthemum Throne continuity to be in jeopardy despite a line of succession seven levels deep. This perception and a new regard for women's rights led some to call for revision of imperial law to allow succession through females. Speculation in the press has linked deterioration of Crown Princess Masako's health to pressure from Imperial Household bureaucrats to bear a male child.

For more information, please visit Japan at Wikipedia.org and Politics of Japan.