House of Councillors (Japan)

The House of Councillors (参議院, Sangiin) 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, or designation of the prime minister, the House of Representatives can insist on its decision. In other decisions, the House of Representatives can override a vote of the House of Councillors only by a two-thirds majority of members present.

This article is about Japan. For Morocco, see House of Councillors (Morocco). For South Korea, see House of Councillors (South Korea).

House of Councillors 参議院 Sangiin
Type
Type	Upper house
Leadership
President	Akiko Santō, LDP (caucus: independent) since 1 August 2019
Vice President	Toshio Ogawa, CDP (caucus: independent) since 1 August 2019
Structure
Seats	245
Political groups	Government (141)      LDP (113)      Kōmeitō (28) Opposition (104)      CDP & DPFP & SDP & Affiliated Independents (61)      Ishin (16)      JCP (13)      Okinawa Whirlwind (2)      Reiwa (2)      Hekisuikai (2)      Your Party (2)      Independents (6)
Elections
Voting system	Parallel voting: Single non-transferable vote (147 seats) Party-list proportional representation (98 seats) Staggered elections
Last election	21 July 2019
Next election	2022
Meeting place
Chamber of the House of Councillors
Website
www.sangiin.go.jp

The House of Councillors has 245 members who each serve six-year terms, two years longer than those of the House of Representatives. Councillors must be at least 30 years old, compared with 25 years old in the House of Representatives. The House cannot be dissolved, as only half of its membership is elected at each election. Of the 121 members subject to election each time, 73 are elected from the 47 prefectural districts by single non-transferable vote (SNTV) and 48 are elected from a nationwide list by proportional representation (PR) with open lists.[1]

Current composition

Composition of the House of Councillors of Japan (as of 7 April 2020 in the 201st National Diet)[2]

Caucus (English name) (domestic name)		Parties	Members
			Term expires						Total
			July 25, 2022			July 28, 2025
			PR	SNTV/FPTP	Subtotal	PR	SNTV/FPTP	Subtotal
	Liberal Democratic Party and Voice of The People Jiyūminshutō・Kokumin no Koe	LDP, independent	20	37	57	18	38	56	113
	The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Democratic Party For the People and The Shin-Ryokufukai and Social Democratic Party Rikken・Kokumin・Shinryokufūkai・Shamin ("Constitutionalist/People's/New Ryokufūkai/Social Democrats")	CDP, DPFP, SDP, independents	12	21	33	12	16	28	61
	Komeito Kōmeitō	Kōmeitō	7	7	14	7	7	14	28
	Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) Nippon Ishin no Kai	Ishin	3	3	6	5	5	10	16
	Japanese Communist Party Nihon Kyōsantō	JCP	5	1	6	4	3	7	13
	Okinawa Whirlwind Okinawa no kaze (lit. "Wind of Okinawa")	Okinawa Socialist, independent	0	1	1	0	1	1	2
	REIWA SHINSENGUMI Reiwa shinsengumi ("Reiwa Shinsengumi")	Reiwa Shinsengumi	0	0	0	2	0	2	2
	Hekisuikai Hekisuikai ("Blue water association")	Independents	0	0	0	0	2	2	2
	Your Party Minna no Tō ("Everyone's Party")	N-Koku, Independent	1	0	1	1	0	1	2
	Independents Members not affiliated with any parliamentary caucus	Independents, LDP (President), CDP (Vice President)	0	3	3	1	2	3	6
Total			48	73	121	50	74	124	245

For a list of individual members, see the List of members of the Diet of Japan.

Latest election

• See 2019 Japanese House of Councillors election

Historical notes

Article 102 of the Japanese Constitution provided that half of the councillors elected in the first House of Councillors election in 1947 would be up for re-election three years later in order to introduce staggered six-year terms.

The House initially had 250 seats. Two seats were added to the House in 1970 after the agreement on the repatriation of Okinawa, increasing the House to a total of 252.[3] Legislation aimed at addressing malapportionment that favoured less-populated prefectures was introduced in 2000; this resulted in ten seats being removed (five each at the 2001 and 2004 elections), bringing the total number of seats to 242.[3] Further reforms to address malapportionment took effect in 2007 and 2016, but did not change the total number of members in the house.[3]

From 1947 to 1983, the House had 100 seats allocated to a national block (全国区, zenkoku-ku), of which fifty seats were allocated in each election.[3] It was originally intended to give nationally prominent figures a route to the House without going through local electioneering processes. Some national political figures, such as feminists Shidzue Katō and Fusae Ichikawa and former Imperial Army general Kazushige Ugaki, were elected through the block, along with a number of celebrities such as comedian Yukio Aoshima (later Governor of Tokyo), journalist Hideo Den and actress Yūko Mochizuki. Shintaro Ishihara won a record 3 million votes in the national block in the 1968 election. The national block was last seen in the 1980 election and was replaced with a nationwide proportional representation block in the 1983 election.[3] The national proportional representation block was reduced to 96 members in the 2000 reforms.[3]

See also

• List of Speakers of the House of Councillors of Japan
• List of districts of the House of Councillors of Japan

References

Specific

1. Hayes 2009, p. 50
2. House of Councillors: Members Strength of the Political Groups in the House (only caucus totals and female members; full Japanese version partitioned by class/end of term and election segment 会派別所属議員数一覧), retrieved 8 April 2020.
3. 参議院議員選挙制度の変遷 [Changes to the electoral system of the House of Councillors] (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 December 2016.

Bibliography

• Hayes, L. D., 2009. Introduction to Japanese Politics. 5th ed. New York: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-7656-2279-2

External links

• House of Councillors Website (in English)
• House of Councillors internet TV - Official site (in Japanese)