Japan’s current leader is Emperor Akihito, who has been the
head of state since 1989 when he succeeded his father. However, since the implementation
of a constitution established in 1947, the emperor has only served as a figurehead.
Since Emperor Akihito can only serve as a symbol of the state and the unity of
the people, the prime minister serves as the dominant leader politically and IR
wise. The current prime minister is Yoshihiko Nada. Prime Minister Nada came
into office in August of 2011, after his predecessor, Naoto Kan, resigned after
it became obvious that he could not contain the current economic and nuclear
crises (after effects of the major earthquake and tsunami combo that devastated
the island country earlier in March 2011).
Nada is a member
of the Democratic Party of Japan (JDP), which came into power during August of
2009 and broke the 50 year consecutive streak of conservative rule in Japan. Unfortunately,
the JDP is losing power and support from the inability to fix Japan’s current
state of crisis and Nada’s reinstatement of the state’s nuclear program. After
the earthquake and tsunami, the nuclear plants of Japan were quite unstable and
much effort in the following month was placed towards stabilizing and shutting them
down. It will be interesting to see how the Japanese government will handle
this situation and if the JDP will continue to stay in power.
Japan’s current
relationships with other countries are mostly peaceful and the increase of
trade between it and other countries has been improving the world economy,
however there is still some tension in the air from the way Japan treated other
countries during WWII: especially China. Currently there is a conflict between
the two concerning ownership of an island.
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