Government

January 31, 2009
Today, in the coarse we learned about the Japanese government.
The Japanese parliament is called the Diet. The rest of this I didn't understand much, but here it is anyway. I asked Alysha and she explained that whole thing again and then it made sense! It consists of the House of Representatives (480 members) and the House of Councillors (242 members). The members of the Diet are elected by the Japanese people. The cabinet is headed by the Prime Minister. The cabinet further consists of the ministers which are appointed by the prime minister and are usually members of the Diet. The prime minister is elected by the Diet. The highest court is the Supreme Court. Other courts are district courts, high courts, family courts, and summary courts. Judges are appointed by the cabinet. The minimum voting age is 20 years. Women received the right to vote in the new constitution. Elections for the House of Representatives are carried out every four years, and half of the House of Councillors is elected every three years.


We also learned a little about Japan's culture and customs. I choose to learn about the Geisha (person of the arts). They are traditional Japanese artist-entertainers. The word Geiko is also used to describe such persons. Geisha were very common in the 18th and 19th centuries, and are still in existence today, although their numbers are dwindling. Juni-hitoe is a ceremonial robe that was the proper attire for court ladies and daughters of the warrior-class families in the Heian Period (794-1185) and after. In addition, when wearing the juni-hitoe, the hairstyle is gathered at the neck to hang down the back(suberakashi) and a fan made of Japanese cypress is held in the hands. I wore one yesterday, it was pretty embarrassing, but fun. Here is a funny picture that I found on the Internet.



Kayla