Comparison between Japan and the Great Britain

Its quick to notice that both Japan and the great Britain are islands nations located on different parts of the world and bearing to this fact,both of them were greatly influenced in similar ways in their historical development attributed by their geographic feature. Because of their water surrounding nature ,both of them were isolated for a period of years by other nations. Due to their natural harbors both of them practiced imperialism around the globe. Japan never faced imperialism by the Great Britain and this ids because of its island nature. Both Japan and the Great Britain are member of the united nations and the G8.Both Japan and the Great Britain have a bicameral parliament . This is a system of parliament consisting of two chambers or two houses. Before the second world war ,both Japan and the Great Britain shared a particular bicameralism known as aristocratic . This includes hereditary peers who are chosen by the emperor or Her Majesty i the queen for Britain Japanese hou se of peers was abolished after world war two and replaced with its current house of councilors. Japan runs a system of government that is representative democracy. Japans bicameral system is neither connected with federalism it exist in unitary states.This implies that their upper house prevalence is for scrutiny to the lower house.. In Great Britain their bicameralism entails democratic and aristocratic elements. This includes the hereditary peers making up house of lords and house of commons which is entirely elected (Dwight 89). Both of them have prime minister Japan has an emperor who is a ceremonial leader and the head of cabinet,wile Great Britain has Her majesty the queen . The emperor has the authority to appoint the prime minister who serves as the head of government. Parliament majority who are compulsory diet members choses the prime minister .The sovereignty of japan is fully vested upon its citizens (Bradley 108). The Great Britain is s union of 4 countries England,Nor thern Ireland, Scotland and Wales majesty queen Elizabeth is the head of state in th parliamentary democracy government . Her monarch also serves as head of state to other 15 other commonwealth parliamentary government is based ion strong democratic traditions. prime minister is the head of government which is selected on the basis of current head of political party that gets full back up by the majority in the house of commons.The prime minister and the cabinet are official appointees by Her Majesty the queen but its the prerogative of the prime minister to select the cabinet which is actually derived from his /her party. The Great Britain parliament comprises of two houses namely house of commons and House of lords House of lords comprises of lords spiritual who are senior bishops of the church of England and lords temporal who are members of the peerage members of the peerage are never elected by citizens but obtain their appointment through former or present government.. House o f commons are elected while house of lords are hereditary and life peers.Japan has a set up of 2 political organizations which are the government which is made up of coalition of 2 major parties and the opposition which comprises of other minor parties. Their system is also characterized by the presence of chief cabinet secretary. The Great Britain government has the ability to change or stop written or unwritten element of the constitution because power is vested in them to do it. (Hamilton ,119) The Japan parliament is equally made up of two sides namely house of councilors and house of representatives. Electoral systems Japan.It has a political system with 3 types of elections First is the general elections to the house of representative that is run after every 4 years. The second one is to the house of councilors that is run after every 3 years to select one half of its members and local elections that is also run after every 4 years this is particularly for the villages and cit ies. Britain. There are five distinct types of elections namely general election,national or regional and assemblies election,elections to European parliament local and mayoral elections are six different methods in place for elections.(Michael, 211) Voting The minimum age for voting in Japan is 20 years and one must certify 3 month residency requirements office seekers minimum age is 25 years to the house of representatives and 35 years to the house of councilors. In the Great Britain the minimum age is 18 years and any person aged above 21 years and above who is a British citizen of another commonwealth country including Irish republic is allowed to vie for an election in Parliament.Elections are held after dissolution of parliament after every 5 years but the decision on when to hold the elections is determined by the prime minister (Michael ,189) Its a general fact that can be established that in a country the electoral system has a major impact on development of any political s cenario Great Britain the system vests itself upon an individual candidate to garner majority vote hence making him /her a member of parliament in the house of commons. CultureContrary to the Great Britain,Japans political parties since their i9th century,they have evolved drastically hence making them to go through a series of splitting of factions,regrouping and renaming . This has actually drawn adverse effects to the general public whose perception has been of mixed reactions. Amidst all these its still worth noting that laws in Japan actually stops or inhibits candidates from making written propaganda during electoral periods. Internet campaigns are also not allowed.Left with almost no option,politicians are left with no option they resort to shouting in loudspeakers in little vans driving into their constituencies This actually deprives them of the freedom to express themselves freely. Judicial system In Japan the chief justice is appointed by the monarch and all other justice s are appointed by the cabinet . whereas in the Great Britain hey actually don't have a unified judicial system,its divided as in England and Wales have one system,Scotland another and Northern Ireland a third one.They have the court of appeal,high court,crown court ,magistrate court and county court that are all administered by a body called her majesty court services with the house of lords being the highest appeal court in most cases but particularly in England and wales. The Great Britain is divided into 646 constituencies where only one member of parliament is elected. Japans military is governed by the ministry of defense the Britain Her Majesty is the head of the armed forced controlled by the Ministry of Defense which reports directly to defense council with the chief of defense staff being the head (Dwight 76).Political culture In Japan sovereign depends on prime ministers advice and in Japan ii entirely depends on its citizens. There is no written constitution in Britain r equired extraordinary to make judgment to certain issues. In Japan Public hearings are not given much weight contrary to the Great Britain. The expiry period of a bill in Japan is a shorter this is due to the fact that once they are not brought forward for voting during session they are rendered expired by the end of a session.But its worth noting that a bill passed by one house but not the other still qualifies to become law. Conclusion. From the above research its evident that democracy prevails more in Great Britain. than in Japan . Actually, England democratic standards has set a pace in the world democracy today. Taking a deeper look on the Great Britain parliament and the Japanese parliament,it further reveals that there is a wide gap between Japans parliamentary committee and plenary session (William 54). This in turn has greatly contributed to the imbalance.Comparison of the two worlds most industrialized countries shows that in the early seventies, Japans house of represent atives met in plenary session about fifty times only per year which is averagely about 82 hours while the house of councilors met about 30 times per year translating to about 60 hours. During the same time in the Great Britain, the house of commons met for over 167 times in a year translating to above 1500 hours while the house of lords met over 110 times a year giving a total of above 700 hours (Michael 21) .From the above one can actually derive that full house sessions are not given much priority in Japans legislative ideal. Japan democracy has been deprived of one most important aspect which is communication. Politicians are not allowed to put their campaigns on the Internet and no wide intensely conducted campaigns unlike in the Great Britain where a politician can actually walk from door to door campaigning and much emphasis is placed on posters,Internet and communication system at large.Works cited. Hamilton, James. Britain legal system:legislature and politics. New York: Dig ireads Constitutional history, 2000. Dwight, Merry D. Japanese legal system:politics and people. London: Cavendish Publishing, 2002. William, Roger and Timpson Michael . political culture in Britain. Oxford:Oxford University Press,2001. Bradley Richardson. political culture in Japan. California. University of California press,2001.