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The July 2022 House of Councillors Election: An Introduction

In July one half of the seats in the House of Councillors, the upper house of Japan parliament, the Diet, will be up for election. Functioning at times like the U.S. Senate, the U.K.'s House of Lords and Germany's Bundesrat, the "House of Worthies" (as it was once called) is designed as a fire break against uncontrolled blazes of populism and partisanship. While a far weaker institution than its U.S., UK and German counterparts, it has provided voters with ways of expressing their anger, frustration and disgust at the ruling parties and their policies. It is the more gender balanced of the two houses of the Diet and has served as an initial testing ground broader political change. It has also been the silly house, where sleepy has-beens, opportunists, wannabees and buffoons have found six years of steady employment at the taxpayers' expense.

What is up for grabs in the July 2022 House of Councillors election? How does the electoral system work and whom does it reward/punish? What are the major political trends being tested? Who are the inspiring, colorful or worrying candidates? Professor Michael Cucek of Temple University Japan offers a short introduction to House of Councillors election just in time for this triennial event.

Jul 7, 2022 07:00 PM in Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo