ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the institutions of Japanese democracy. Institutions can be conceived as "the rules of the game" that establish the incentives and constraints that political actors respond to. The relevant political actors include politicians, political parties, and voters. The question at hand is the extent to which Japanese political institutions promote the key values of democracy. The chapter argues that while not perfect, Japan's political system is a democracy. It explores how the rules that inform the parliament, the prime ministership, the cabinet, elections, the bureaucracy, the courts, and the localities influence democracy. The chapter concludes by providing the strengths and weakness of Japanese democracy in isolation as well in comparison to two other established parliamentary democracies - Great Britain and Germany. Like Britain and Japan, the legislative and executive branches are fused in Germany. Japan's Constitution clearly established democratic institutions and values in the postwar period.
