National Diet

The National Diet (国会, Kokkai)[1][2] is the supreme organ of Sovereignty and the bicameral legislature of Japan consisting of the House of Representatives (衆議院, Shūgiin) and the House of Councillors (参議院, Sangiin). Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under parallel voting systems. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally responsible for selecting the Prime Minister. The Diet was first convened as the Imperial Diet in 1889 as a result of adopting the Meiji Constitution. It took its current form in 1947 upon the adoption of the post-war constitution. The two houses meet in the National Diet Building (国会議事堂, Kokkai-gijidō) in Nagatachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo.

"Kokkai" redirects here. For the Sumo wrestler from Georgia, see Kokkai Futoshi.

"Diet of Japan" and "Japanese Diet" redirect here. For information on Japanese food, see Japanese cuisine.

National Diet 国会 Kokkai
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	House of Councillors House of Representatives
Leadership
Speaker of the House of Representatives	Tadamori Ōshima, LDP since April 21, 2015
President of the House of Councillors	Akiko Santō, LDP since August 1, 2019
Structure
Seats	710 245 (House of Councillors) 465 (House of Representatives)
House of Councillors 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)
House of Representatives political groups	Government (313)      LDP (284)      Kōmeitō (29) Opposition (151)      CDP & DPFP & SDP & Social Security & affiliated Independents (119)      JCP (12)      Ishin (11)      Kibo (2)      Independents (7)      Vacant (1)
Elections
House of Councillors last election	21 July 2019 (25th)
House of Representatives last election	22 October 2017 (48th)
Meeting place
National Diet Building, Nagatachō, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Website
House of Councillors – official website House of Representatives – official website

Composition

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

See also: Elections in Japan

The houses of the Diet are both elected under parallel voting systems. This means that the seats to be filled in any given election are divided into two groups, each elected by a different method; the main difference between the houses is in the sizes of the two groups and how they are elected. Voters are also asked to cast two votes: one for an individual candidate in a constituency, and one for a party list. Any national of Japan at least 18 years of age may vote in these elections, reduced from age 20 in 2016.[3][4] Japan's parallel voting system is not to be confused with the Additional Member System used in many other nations. The Constitution of Japan does not specify the number of members of each house of the Diet, the voting system, or the necessary qualifications of those who may vote or be returned in parliamentary elections, thus allowing all of these things to be determined by law. However it does guarantee universal adult suffrage and a secret ballot. It also insists that the electoral law must not discriminate in terms of "race, creed, sex, social status, family origin, education, property or income".[5]

Generally, the election of Diet members is controlled by statutes passed by the Diet. This is a source of contention concerning re-apportionment of prefectures' seats in response to changes of population distribution. For example, the Liberal Democratic Party had controlled Japan for most of its post-war history, and it gained much of its support from rural areas. During the post-war era, large numbers of people were relocating to the urban centers in the seeking of wealth; though some re-apportionments have been made to the number of each prefecture's assigned seats in the Diet, rural areas generally have more representation than do urban areas.[6] The Supreme Court of Japan began exercising judicial review of apportionment laws following the Kurokawa decision of 1976, invalidating an election in which one district in Hyōgo Prefecture received five times the representation of another district in Osaka Prefecture.[7] In recent elections the malapportionment ratio amounted to 4.8 in the House of Councillors (census 2005: Ōsaka/Tottori;[8] election 2007: Kanagawa/Tottori[9]) and 2.3 in the House of Representatives (election 2009: Chiba 4/Kōchi 3).[10]

Candidates for the lower house must be 25 years old or older and 30 years or older for the upper house. All candidates must be Japanese nationals. Under Article 49 of Japan's Constitution, Diet members are paid about ¥1.3 million a month in salary. Each lawmaker is entitled to employ three secretaries with taxpayer funds, free Shinkansen tickets, and four round-trip airplane tickets a month to enable them to travel back and forth to their home districts.[11]

Powers

Article 41 of the Constitution describes the National Diet as "the highest organ of State power" and "the sole law-making organ of the State". This statement is in forceful contrast to the Meiji Constitution, which described the Emperor as the one who exercised legislative power with the consent of the Diet. The Diet's responsibilities include not only the making of laws but also the approval of the annual national budget that the government submits and the ratification of treaties. It can also initiate draft constitutional amendments, which, if approved, must be presented to the people in a referendum. The Diet may conduct "investigations in relation to government" (Article 62).

The Prime Minister must be designated by Diet resolution, establishing the principle of legislative supremacy over executive government agencies (Article 67). The government can also be dissolved by the Diet if it passes a motion of no confidence introduced by fifty members of the House of Representatives. Government officials, including the Prime Minister and Cabinet members, are required to appear before Diet investigative committees and answer inquiries. The Diet also has the power to impeach judges convicted of criminal or irregular conduct.[5]

In most circumstances, in order to become law a bill must be first passed by both houses of the Diet and then promulgated by the Emperor. This role of the Emperor is similar to the Royal Assent in some other nations; however, the Emperor cannot refuse to promulgate a law and therefore his legislative role is merely a formality.[12]

The House of Representatives is the more powerful chamber of the Diet.[13] While the House of Representatives cannot usually overrule the House of Councillors on a bill, the House of Councillors can only delay the adoption of a budget or a treaty that has been approved by the House of Representatives, and the House of Councillors has almost no power at all to prevent the lower house from selecting any Prime Minister it wishes. Furthermore, once appointed it is the confidence of the House of Representatives alone that the Prime Minister must enjoy in order to continue in office. The House of Representatives can overrule the upper house in the following circumstances:[14]

• If a bill is adopted by the House of Representatives and then either rejected, amended or not approved within 60 days by the House of Councillors, then the bill will become law if again adopted by the House of Representatives by a majority of at least two-thirds of members present.[15]
• If both houses cannot agree on a budget or a treaty, even through the appointment of a joint committee of the Diet, or if the House of Councillors fails to take final action on a proposed budget or treaty within 30 days of its approval by the House of Representatives, then the decision of the lower house is deemed to be that of the Diet.[15]
• If both houses cannot agree on a candidate for Prime Minister, even through a joint committee, or if the House of Councillors fails to designate a candidate within 10 days of House of Representatives' decision, then the nominee of the lower house is deemed to be that of the Diet.

• Diet Building Interior
• 
  House of Representatives
• 
  House of Councillors
• 
  The waiting room adjacent to the Cabinet Room at the National Diet Building

Activities

Under the Constitution, at least one session of the Diet must be convened each year. Technically, only the House of Representatives is dissolved before an election. But, while the lower house is in dissolution, the House of Councillors is usually "closed". The Emperor both convokes the Diet and dissolves the House of Representatives but in doing so must act on the advice of the Cabinet. In an emergency the Cabinet can convoke the Diet for an extraordinary session, and an extraordinary session may be requested by one-quarter of the members of either house.[16] At the beginning of each parliamentary session, the Emperor reads a special speech from his throne in the chamber of the House of Councillors.[17]

The presence of one-third of the membership of either house constitutes a quorum[16] and deliberations are in public unless at least two-thirds of those present agree otherwise. Each house elects its own presiding officer who casts the deciding vote in the event of a tie. The Diet has parliamentary immunity. Members of each house have certain protections against arrest while the Diet is in session and arrested members must be released during the term of the session if the House demands. They are immune outside the house for words spoken and votes cast in the House. [18] [19] Each house of the Diet determines its own standing orders and has responsibility for disciplining its own members. A member may be expelled, but only by a two-thirds majority vote. Every member of the Cabinet has the right to appear in either house of the Diet for the purpose of speaking on bills, and each house has the right to compel the appearance of Cabinet members. [20]

Legislative process

The vast majority of bills are submitted to the Diet by the Cabinet.[21] Bills are usually drafted by the relevant ministry, sometimes with the advisory of an external committee if the issue is sufficiently important or neutrality is necessary.[22] Such advisory committees may include university professors, trade union representatives, industry representatives, and local governors and mayors, and invariably include retired officials.[21] Such draft bills would be sent to the Cabinet Legislation Bureau of the government, as well as to the ruling party.[21]

History

Further information: Political funding in Japan

Japan's first modern legislature was the Imperial Diet (帝国議会, Teikoku-gikai) established by the Meiji Constitution in force from 1889 to 1947. The Meiji Constitution was adopted on February 11, 1889, and the Imperial Diet first met on November 29, 1890, when the document entered into force.[23] The first Imperial Diet of 1890 was plagued by controversy and political tensions. The Prime Minister of Japan at that time was General Count Yamagata Aritomo, who entered into a confrontation with the legislative body over military funding. During this time, there were many critics of the army who derided the Meiji slogan of "rich country, strong military" as in effect producing a poor county (albeit with a strong military). They advocated for infrastructure projects and lower taxes instead and felt their interests were not being served by high levels of military spending. As a result of these early conflicts, public opinion of politicians was not favorable.[24]

The Imperial Diet consisted of a House of Representatives and a House of Peers (貴族院, Kizoku-in). The House of Representatives was directly elected, if on a limited franchise; universal adult male suffrage was introduced in 1925. The House of Peers, much like the British House of Lords, consisted of high-ranking nobles.[25]

The word diet derives from Latin and was a common name for an assembly in medieval European polities like the Holy Roman Empire. The Meiji Constitution was largely based on the form of constitutional monarchy found in nineteenth century Prussia and the new Diet was modeled partly on the German Reichstag and partly on the British Westminster system. Unlike the post-war constitution, the Meiji constitution granted a real political role to the Emperor, although in practice the Emperor's powers were largely directed by a group of oligarchs called the genrō or elder statesmen.[26]

To become law or bill, a constitutional amendment had to have the assent of both the Diet and the Emperor. This meant that while the Emperor could no longer legislate by decree he still had a veto over the Diet. The Emperor also had complete freedom in choosing the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, and so, under the Meiji Constitution, Prime Ministers often were not chosen from and did not enjoy the confidence of the Diet.[25] The Imperial Diet was also limited in its control over the budget. However, the Diet could veto the annual budget, if no budget was approved the budget of the previous year continued in force. This changed with the new constitution after World War II.

The proportional representation system for the House of Councillors, introduced in 1982, was the first major electoral reform under the post-war constitution. Instead of choosing national constituency candidates as individuals, as had previously been the case, voters cast ballots for parties. Individual councillors, listed officially by the parties before the election, are selected on the basis of the parties' proportions of the total national constituency vote.[27] The system was introduced to reduce the excessive money spent by candidates for the national constituencies. Critics charged, however, that this new system benefited the two largest parties, the LDP and the Japan Socialist Party (now Social Democratic Party), which in fact had sponsored the reform.[28]

• Diet Buildings
• 
  The First Japanese Diet Hall (1890–91).
• 
  National Diet Hiroshima Temporary Building (1894).
• 
  The Second Japanese Diet Hall (1891–1925).
• 
  National Diet Building (1930).
• 
  National Diet Building (2017).

List of sessions

There are three types of sessions of the National Diet:[29]

• R – jōkai (常会), regular, annual sessions of the National Diet, often shortened to "regular National Diet" (tsūjō Kokkai). These are nowadays usually called in January, they last for 150 days and can be extended once.
• E – rinjikai (臨時会), extraordinary sessions of the National Diet, often shortened to "extraordinary National Diet" (rinji Kokkai). These are often called in autumn, or in the summer after a regular election of the House of Councillors or after a full-term general election of the House of Representatives. Its length is negotiated between the two houses, it can be extended twice.
• S – tokubetsukai (特別会), special sessions of the National Diet, often shortened to "special National Diet" (tokubetsu Kokkai). They are called only after a dissolution and early general election of the House of Representatives. Because the cabinet must resign after a House of Representatives election, the Diet always chooses a prime minister-designate in a special session (but inversely, not all PM elections take place in a special Diet). A special session can be extended twice.

HCES – There is a fourth type of legislative session: If the House of Representatives is dissolved, a National Diet cannot be convened. In urgent cases, the cabinet may invoke an emergency session (緊急集会, kinkyū shūkai) of the House of Councillors to take provisional decisions for the whole Diet. As soon as the whole National Diet convenes again, these decisions must be confirmed by the House of Representatives or become ineffective. Such emergency sessions have been called twice in history, in 1952 and 1953.[30]

Any session of the Diet may be cut short by a dissolution of the House of Representatives. In the table, this is listed simply as "(dissolution)"; the House of Councillors or the National Diet as such cannot be dissolved.

List of Diet sessions[31]

Diet	Type	Opened	Closed	Length in days (originally scheduled+extension[s])
1st	S	May 20, 1947	December 9, 1947	204 (50+154)
2nd	R	December 10, 1947	July 5, 1948	209 (150+59)
3rd	E	October 11, 1948	November 30, 1948	51 (30+21)
4th	R	December 1, 1948	December 23, 1948 (dissolution)	23 (150)
5th	S	February 11, 1949	May 31, 1949	110 (70+40)
6th	E	October 25, 1949	December 3, 1949	40 (30+10)
7th	R	December 4, 1949	May 2, 1950	150
8th	E	July 21, 1950	July 31, 1950	20
9th	E	November 21, 1950	December 9, 1950	19 (18+1)
10th	R	December 10, 1950	June 5, 1951	178 (150+28)
11th	E	August 16, 1951	August 18, 1951	3
12th	E	October 10, 1951	November 30, 1951	52 (40+12)
13th	R	December 10, 1951	July 31, 1952	225 (150+85)
14th (ja)	R	August 26, 1952	August 28, 1952 (dissolution)	3 (150)
–	[HCES]	August 31, 1952	August 31, 1952	[1]
15th (ja)	S	October 24, 1952	March 14, 1953 (dissolution)	142 (60+99)
–	[HCES]	March 18, 1953	March 20, 1953	[3]
16th	S	May 18, 1953	August 10, 1953	85 (75+10)
17th	E	October 29, 1953	November 7, 1953	10 (7+3)
18th	E	November 30, 1953	December 8, 1953	9
19th	R	December 10, 1953	June 15, 1957	188 (150+38)
20th	E	November 30, 1954	December 9, 1954	10 (9+1)
21st	R	December 10, 1954	January 24, 1955 (dissolution)	46 (150)
22nd	S	March 18, 1955	July 30, 1955	135 (105+30)
23rd	E	November 22, 1955	December 16, 1955	25
24th	R	December 20, 1955	June 3, 1956	167 (150+17)
25th	E	November 12, 1956	December 13, 1956	32 (25+7)
26th	R	December 20, 1956	May 19, 1957	151 (150+1)
27th	E	November 1, 1957	November 14, 1957	14 (12+2)
28th	R	December 20, 1957	April 25, 1958 (dissolution)	127 (150)
29th	S	June 10, 1958	July 8, 1958	29 (25+4)
30th	E	September 29, 1958	December 7, 1958	70 (40+30)
31st	R	December 10, 1958	May 2, 1959	144
32nd	E	June 22, 1959	July 3, 1959	12
33rd	E	October 26, 1959	December 27, 1959	63 (60+13)
34th	R	December 29, 1959	July 15, 1960	200 (150+50)
35th	E	July 18, 1960	July 22, 1960	5
36th	E	October 17, 1960	October 24, 1960 (dissolution)	8 (10)
37th	S	December 5, 1960	December 22, 1960	18
38th	R	December 26, 1960	June 8, 1961	165 (150+15)
39th	E	September 25, 1961	October 31, 1961	37
40th	R	December 9, 1961	May 7, 1962	150
41st	E	August 4, 1962	September 2, 1962	30
42nd	E	December 8, 1962	December 23, 1962	16 (12+4)
43rd	R	December 24, 1962	July 6, 1963	195 (150+45)
44th	E	October 15, 1963	October 23, 1963 (dissolution)	9 (30)
45th	S	December 4, 1963	December 18, 1963	15
46th	R	December 20, 1963	June 26, 1964	190 (150+40)
47th	E	November 9, 1964	December 18, 1964	40
48th	R	December 21, 1964	June 1, 1965	163 (150+13)
49th	E	July 22, 1965	August 11, 1965	21
50th	E	October 5, 1965	December 13, 1965	70
51st	R	December 20, 1965	June 27, 1966	190 (150+40)
52nd	E	July 11, 1966	July 30, 1966	20
53rd	E	November 30, 1966	December 20, 1966	21
54th (ja)	R	December 27, 1966	December 27, 1966 (dissolution)	1 (150)
55th	S	February 15, 1967	July 21, 1967	157 (136+21)
56th	E	July 27, 1967	August 18, 1967	23 (15+8)
57th	E	December 4, 1967	December 23, 1967	20
58th	R	December 27, 1967	June 3, 1968	160 (150+10)
59th	E	August 1, 1968	August 10, 1968	10
60th	E	December 10, 1968	December 21, 1968	12
61st	R	December 27, 1968	August 5, 1969	222 (150+72)
62nd	E	November 29, 1969	December 2, 1969 (dissolution)	4 (14)
63rd	S	January 14, 1970	May 13, 1970	120
64th (ja)	E	November 24, 1970	December 18, 1970	25
65th	R	December 26, 1970	May 24, 1971	150
66th	E	July 14, 1971	July 24, 1971	11
67th	E	October 16, 1971	December 27, 1971	73 (70+3)
68th	R	December 29, 1971	June 16, 1972	171 (150+21)
69th	E	July 6, 1972	July 12, 1972	7
70th	E	October 27, 1972	November 13, 1972 (dissolution)	18 (21)
71st (ja)	S	December 22, 1972	September 27, 1973	280 (150+130)
72nd	R	December 1, 1973	June 3, 1974	185 (150+35)
73rd	E	July 24, 1974	July 31, 1974	8
74th	E	December 9, 1974	December 25, 1974	17
75th	R	December 27, 1974	July 4, 1975	190 (150+40)
76th	E	September 11, 1975	December 25, 1975	106 (75+31)
77th	R	December 27, 1975	May 24, 1976	150
78th	E	September 16, 1976	November 4, 1976	50
79th	E	December 24, 1976	December 28, 1976	5
80th	R	December 30, 1976	June 9, 1977	162 (150+12)
81st	E	July 27, 1977	August 3, 1977	8
82nd	E	September 29, 1977	November 25, 1977	58 (40+18)
83rd	E	December 7, 1977	December 10, 1977	4
84th	R	December 19, 1977	June 16, 1978	180 (150+30)
85th	E	September 18, 1978	October 21, 1978	34
86th	E	December 6, 1978	December 12, 1978	7
87th	R	December 22, 1978	June 14, 1979	175 (150+25)
88th	E	August 30, 1979	September 7, 1979 (dissolution)	9 (30)
89th	S	October 30, 1979	November 16, 1979	18
90th	E	November 26, 1979	December 11, 1979	16
91st	R	December 21, 1979	May 19, 1980 (dissolution)	151 (150+9)
92nd	S	July 17, 1980	July 26, 1980	10
93rd	E	September 29, 1980	November 29, 1980	62 (50+12)
94th	R	December 22, 1980	June 6, 1981	167 (150+17)
95th	E	September 27, 1981	November 28, 1981	66 (55+11)
96th (ja)	R	December 21, 1981	August 21, 1982	244 (150+94)
97th	E	November 26, 1982	December 25, 1982	30 (25+5)
98th	R	December 28, 1982	May 26, 1983	150
99th	E	July 18, 1983	July 23, 1983	6
100th	E	September 8, 1983	November 28, 1983 (dissolution)	82 (70+12)
101st	S	December 26, 1983	August 8, 1984	227 (150+77)
102nd	R	December 1, 1984	June 25, 1985	207 (150+57)
103rd	E	October 14, 1985	December 21, 1985	69 (62+7)
104th	R	December 24, 1985	May 22, 1986	150
105th (ja)	E	June 2, 1986	June 2, 1986 (dissolution)	1
106th	S	July 22, 1986	July 25, 1986	4
107th	E	September 11, 1986	July 25, 1986	4
108th	R	December 29, 1986	May 27, 1987	150
109th	E	July 6, 1987	September 19, 1987	76 (65+11)
110th	E	November 6, 1987	November 11, 1987	6
111th	E	November 27, 1987	December 12, 1987	16
112th	R	December 28, 1987	May 25, 1988	150
113th	E	July 19, 1988	December 28, 1988	163 (70+93)
114th	R	December 30, 1988	June 22, 1989	175 (150+25)
115th	E	August 7, 1989	August 12, 1989	6
116th	E	September 28, 1989	December 16, 1989	80
117th	R	December 25, 1989	January 24, 1990 (dissolution)	31 (150)
118th	S	February 27, 1990	June 26, 1990	120
119th	E	October 12, 1990	November 10, 1990	30
120th	R	December 10, 1990	May 8, 1991	150
121st	E	August 5, 1991	October 4, 1991	61
122nd	E	November 5, 1991	December 21, 1991	47 (36+11)
123rd	R	January 24, 1992	June 21, 1992	150
124th	E	August 7, 1992	August 11, 1992	5
125th	E	October 30, 1992	December 10, 1992	42 (40+2)
126th	R	January 22, 1993	June 18, 1993 (dissolution)	148 (150)
127th	S	August 5, 1993	August 28, 1993	24 (10+14)
128th	E	September 17, 1993	January 29, 1994	135 (90+45)
129th	R	January 31, 1994	June 29, 1994	150
130th	E	July 18, 1994	July 22, 1994	5
131st	E	September 30, 1994	December 9, 1994	71 (65+6)
132nd	R	January 20, 1995	June 18, 1995	150
133rd	E	August 4, 1995	August 8, 1995	5
134th	E	September 29, 1995	December 15, 1995	78 (46+32)
135th	E	January 11, 1996	January 13, 1996	3
136th (ja)	R	January 22, 1996	June 19, 1996	150
137th	E	September 27, 1996	September 27, 1996 (dissolution)	1
138th	S	November 7, 1996	November 12, 1996	6
139th	E	November 29, 1996	December 18, 1996	20
140th	R	January 20, 1997	June 18, 1997	150
141st	E	September 29, 1997	December 12, 1997	75
142nd	R	January 12, 1998	June 18, 1998	158 (150+8)
143rd (ja)	E	July 30, 1998	October 16, 1998	79 (70+9)
144th	E	November 27, 1998	December 14, 1998	18
145th	R	January 19, 1999	August 13, 1999	207 (150+57)
146th	E	October 29, 1999	December 15, 1999	48
147th	R	January 20, 2000	June 2, 2000 (dissolution)	135 (150)
148th (ja)	S	July 4, 2000	July 6, 2000	3
149th	E	July 28, 2000	August 9, 2000	13
150th	E	September 21, 2000	December 1, 2000	72
151st	R	January 31, 2001	June 29, 2001	150
152nd	E	August 7, 2001	August 10, 2001	4
153rd	E	September 27, 2001	December 7, 2001	72
154th	R	January 21, 2002	July 31, 2002	192 (150+42)
155th	E	October 18, 2002	December 13, 2002	57
156th	R	January 20, 2003	July 28, 2003	190 (150+40)
157th	E	September 29, 2003	October 10, 2003 (dissolution)	15 (36)
158th	S	November 19, 2003	November 27, 2003	9
159th	R	January 19, 2004	June 16, 2004	150
160th	E	July 30, 2004	August 6, 2004	8
161st	E	October 12, 2004	December 3, 2004	53
162nd	R	January 21, 2005	August 8, 2005 (dissolution)	200 (150+55)
163rd (ja)	S	September 21, 2005	November 1, 2005	42
164th (ja)	R	January 20, 2006	June 18, 2006	150
165th (ja)	S	September 26, 2006	December 19, 2006	85 (81+4)
166th (ja)	R	January 25, 2007	July 5, 2007	162 (150+12)
167th (ja)	E	August 7, 2007	August 10, 2007	4
168th (ja)	E	September 10, 2007	January 15, 2008	128 (62+66)
169th (ja)	R	January 18, 2008	June 21, 2008	156 (150+6)
170th (ja)	E	September 24, 2008	December 25, 2008	93 (68+25)
171st (ja)	R	January 5, 2009	July 21, 2009 (dissolution)	198 (150+55)
172nd (ja)	S	September 16, 2009	September 19, 2009	4
173rd (ja)	E	October 26, 2009	December 4, 2009	40 (36+4)
174th (ja)	R	January 18, 2010	June 16, 2010	150
175th (ja)	E	July 30, 2010	August 6, 2010	8
176th (ja)	E	October 1, 2010	December 3, 2010	64
177th (ja)	R	January 24, 2011	August 31, 2011	220 (150+70)
178th (ja)	E	September 13, 2011	September 30, 2011	18 (4+14)
179th (ja)	E	October 20, 2011	December 9, 2011	51
180th (ja)	R	January 24, 2012	September 8, 2012	229 (150+79)
181st (ja)	E	October 29, 2012	November 16, 2012 (dissolution)	19 (33)
182nd (ja)	S	December 26, 2012	December 28, 2012	3
183rd (ja)	R	January 28, 2013	June 26, 2013	150
184th (ja)	E	August 2, 2013	August 7, 2013	6
185th (ja)	E	October 15, 2013	December 8, 2013	55 (53+2)
186th (ja)	R	January 24, 2014	June 22, 2014	150
187th (ja)	E	September 29, 2014	November 21, 2014 (dissolution)	54 (63)
188th (ja)	S	December 24, 2014	December 26, 2014	3
189th (ja)	R	January 26, 2015	September 27, 2015	245 (150+95)
190th (ja)	R	January 4, 2016	June 1, 2016	150
191st (ja)	E	August 1, 2016	August 3, 2016	3
192nd (ja)	E	September 26, 2016	December 17, 2016	83 (66+17)
193rd (ja)	R	January 20, 2017	June 18, 2017	150
194th (ja)	E	September 28, 2017	September 28, 2017 (dissolution)	1
195th (ja)	S	November 1, 2017	December 9, 2017	39
196th (ja)	R	January 22, 2018	July 22, 2018	182 (150+32)
197th (ja)	E	October 24, 2018	December 10, 2018	48
198th (ja)	R	January 28, 2019	June 26, 2019	150
199th (ja)	E	August 1, 2019	August 5, 2019	5
200th (ja)	E	October 4, 2019	December 9, 2019	67

See also

• Bicameralism
• Government of Japan
• History of Japan
• National Diet Building
• National Diet Library
• Parliamentary system
• Politics of Japan
• List of legislatures by country
• ja:国会開会式 - Opening ceremony of National Diet.

References

1. "House of Councillors The National Diet of Japan". www.sangiin.go.jp. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
2. "Diet functions". www.shugiin.go.jp. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
3. "Diet enacts law lowering voting age to 18 from 20". The Japan Times.
4. Japan Guide Coming of Age (seijin no hi) Retrieved June 8, 2007.
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External links

• National Diet Library: Diet and Parliaments has the Diet minutes (in Japanese) and additional information.