The Importance Of Democracy In Japan

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Democracy, what is democracy? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, democracy is defined as a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections. At the end of the Second World War Japan adopted a democratic government with the influence of its American occupier. Although Japan has undergone an extensive change in its system since then to the present, is it a true competitive democracy that responds with adequate policies that meet its public needs? By using the United States democracy, and examining Japan through its political process, social order, health care, and its public policies in education…show more content…
The issue of the environment is important to the Japanese people and created citizen’s movements to create awareness and influence politicians. One milestone of improving the environment in Japan was the passage of the Tokyo Metropolitan Environmental Pollution Control Ordinance in 1969. The ordinance stated, “that people were entitled to a clean and safe environment as a matter of right. To ensure the observance of this right, criminal penalties were sanctioned for polluters. Allowed citizens to pursue their grievances in the courts” This was started at the local level, and eventually made its way up nationally when the national government was pressured to take up environmental protection. By 1971 the Environmental Agency was created to fight for environmental protection to the powerful economic ministries of national government. The citizen's movements were successful in getting the government to respond to this were the citizens disrupting the process of "business as usual" process in politics. However, during the 1980's the environmental movement slowed down, and the central government was able to take full control over Japan's environmental

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