Japan government//USA government.....

[Koji]

The ancient Jpanese government was a Monarcy . The Emprirer had complete controll . Now Japan is Republic-Democracy . Like the USA . So how similar is Japanese government with American government ??? I think the similarties in government are very Different in spacifics but in general ... ya know. Japan has a constition like us . So what goes on in the Japanese government ???

[moyashi]

Like most ancient civilizations Japan started as a Matriarchy and moved into a Patriarchy with the corresponding shift of Empress to Emperor.

The power of the Emperor fell in Heian period which is roughly 940AD to 1040 AD. From the there the title of Shogun slowly began to become more and more powerful. Shogun means "Barbarian subdoing generalismo.... or something like that" Barbarian meaning people outside of the Capital. At that time being Kyoto latter with a split-Capital system with the Emprero in Kyoto enjoying life doing nothing and Edo (Tokyo) being the center of the real government.

During the Meiji period ... Japan sent out commisions across the know world and looked at the governments of the US, German, and England. I think that the Japanese choose the German form at the time since German was slowly building up to WWI. And Japan too being a late comer wanted to get into the action too.

Modern Day Japan, is a .... hmmm ... a Repulic? Definitely not really a Democracy. Actually, Japan is more of a 2 system Chinese confusinist and Repulic. With Beuracrates having all the power and the Politicians being the minnons of the buearucrates. It's really confusing since there is no checks and balances that the American government has.
Everything is top down, everything being done for the people in the name of the people but for the best interest of the civil-servant.

The Prime minister this last election was elected on a popular vote but first the ruling party got to chose who they would allow to win.

In many ways the political setup is like that of England.

So, basically Japan and the US would be only similar in a very few areas. voting and a constitution.

The current constitution was written by McArthur and his team.

I need to head off to work, I'll try to expand more later. If you have questions, please fire away.

[kyujuni]

Actually, the Japanese modelled their original "democratic" system off the Germans (at the time under Bismark) because in that system the Elected policitions had no real power, In japan this was transfered over to give the men behind the throne the power.

[thomas]

Two annotations: considering the historical epoch Bismarck's reforms were indeed progressive (just think of the social insurance he introduced), thus a model for other countries.

Secondly, as far as I know Japanese civil law is still modelled after the German BGB (Buergerliches Gesetzbuch, the German Civil Code).

[moyashi]

Possibly about the civil code. It's pretty esoteric and many TV shows are on TV working a such and such situations.

Possibly the Meiji men liked those reforms but ... I think it was a bit more related to the idea of catching up in the colonial world.

The men behind the throne..... "nobody" ... the throne is and for the most part a puppet chair.

The meiji men like Ito Hirobumi held power after retirement under the nominer "GENRO".

[kyujuni]

Yes, the Genro, like Sato and Ito, were who I meant, I just forgot the groups name

By the way, for anyone interested in this kind of thing, the book "The Yamato Dynasty" is a good book on the subject.

[thomas]

I agree. I enjoyed reading the book, but I am sure it doesn't reveal any sensational facts to Old Japan Hands (which I'm an definitly not! ;) )

=> http://books.japanreference.com/review.cgi?ID=1