Civics - Politics, Elections, and Public Administration
What the exam checks
How the 国会, 内閣, and 地方自治 bodies are composed and controlled, and whether you can apply the rules of elections and 衆議院の優越 to a specific story.
Numbers and rules to hold
- 衆議院 465 members (289 小選挙区 plus 176 比例), term four years, dissolvable; 参議院 248 members (148 選挙区 plus 100 比例), six years with half elected every three years.
- 並立制: candidates run in both tiers; 参議院 uses a non-binding list (非拘束名簿式).
- Voting age 18; 被選挙権 is 25 for 衆議院 and 30 for 参議院.
- 国会 is the 最高機関 and the 唯一の立法機関. 内閣 is 議院内閣制: the 内閣総理大臣 is chosen by the Diet, a majority of ministers must be Diet members, and a 不信任決議 forces dissolution within 10 days or resignation en bloc.
- 地方自治 is 二元代表制, with direct-request signatures of 1/50 of voters for 条例の制定改廃 and 監査, but 1/3 for dissolution or recall of the head or assembly members.
Worked example
The 衆議院 passes a budget the 参議院 rejects. Reasoning: for budgets, treaties, and 内閣総理大臣の指名, a 両院協議会 is convened; if no agreement follows, the 衆議院 decision becomes the Diet's decision once 30 days pass after the 衆議院 passage (for treaties and nominations, after 10 days without a 参議院 decision). Note that the two-thirds override rule applies to ordinary bills, not to the budget.
Traps that cost marks
Using the 2/3 override for budgets; believing the 参議院 can be dissolved; mixing the 1/50 and 1/3 signature thresholds; forgetting that 被選挙権 ages differ from the voting age.