Party politics in Japan was inaugurated during the Meiji period (1868–1912), although it subsequently was suppressed during the war years of the 1930s and ’40s. The freedom to organize political parties was guaranteed by the 1947 constitution. Any organization that supports a candidate for political office is required to be registered as a political party; thousands of parties, most of them of local or regional significance, have since been organized, merged, or dissolved.

Several parties rose to national prominence. Chief among these is the Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP), generally conservative and pro-business and the dominant force in government for most of the period since its founding in the mid-1950s. The moderately socialist New Kōmeitō (New Clean Government Party)—traditionally an important opposition party and (since 1999) part of a government coalition with the LDP—originally drew its main support from the Sōka Gakkai, although the religious organization subsequently renounced any formal ties with the party. The Social Democratic Party (SDP), originally called the Japan Socialist Party (JSP), long was the major opposition party, drawing much of its support from labor unions and inhabitants of the large cities. More recently, the main party in opposition has been the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), formed initially in the mid-1990s by the short-lived New Party Harbinger and gradually enlarged by absorbing other smaller parties. The Japanese Communist Party (JCP), small but influential for its size, has remained on the fringe of the opposition.

Armed forces

As mentioned above, Japan’s 1947 constitution stipulates that the country cannot maintain armed forces for purposes of aggression. Between 1945 and 1950, Japan had no armed forces except for police. After the outbreak of the Korean War, however, the government, at the suggestion of the Allied occupation forces, established a National Police Reserve, which later became the Self-Defense Forces (SDF; Jieitai). The SDF consist of ground, maritime, and air branches and are administered by the cabinet-level Ministry of Defense, although overall policy is deliberated and set by the Security Council (consisting of the prime minister and several high-level cabinet ministers).

Japan’s national defense also is maintained by collective security arrangements with the United States that have been in place since the early 1950s. Through the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security—concluded between Japan and the United States in 1960, reaffirmed in 1970, and further corroborated and slightly revised in the late 1990s—the United States operates military bases in Japan, primarily in Okinawa. The treaty may be terminated one year after either signatory indicates such an intention.

The existence of the SDF and of the treaty have provoked considerable controversy. A continuing dispute has been the constitutionality of the SDF, although in 1959 the Supreme Court ruled that the SDF did not violate the constitution because of their defensive nature. The antiwar provision of the constitution also has been challenged, especially by nationalist groups. In 1992 the government authorized the first postwar use of Japanese forces outside the country for noncombatant UN-sponsored peacekeeping operations. The first deployment of Japanese combatant forces outside the country was in 2009, when destroyers were sent to the Gulf of Aden to counteract pirate operations against Japanese shipping off the coast of Somalia.

Police

Japan’s police services are under the administration of the National Public Safety Commission, headed by a cabinet minister. The commission has supervisory authority over the National Police Agency. This body in turn supervises, guides, and coordinates the activities of separate prefectural forces that are directly under the control of a commission for public safety in each prefecture. Administrative areas are further divided into precincts, each headed by a police station. Law enforcement is aided by the existence of an extensive network of small neighborhood police boxes (kōban). There also are a number of more specialized policing bodies, the largest of which, the Maritime Safety Agency, patrols Japan’s coastal waters.

Japan’s crime rate is low compared with that of most countries, especially for violent crimes—in part because of the severe restrictions placed on the possession of firearms. There has been a gradual rise in the overall crime rate through the years, notably in property crimes. However, arrest and conviction rates are high. The police have stepped up their efforts to crack down on the crime syndicates (bōryokudan, or yakuza), but by the early 21st century there were still some two dozen organized crime groups and tens of thousands of gang members.

Health

Japan has a high standard of living, which contributes much to the general good health of the Japanese people. However, because of the country’s low birth rate and high life expectancy, its population has aged considerably since the mid-20th century, and the number of those who are infirm or who seek medical treatment has shifted disproportionately to the elderly. The country has one of the most comprehensive health care systems in the world, with national health insurance covering all citizens.

Malignant neoplasms (cancers) have been the leading cause of death in Japan since about 1980; the cancer death rate per 100,000 people roughly tripled between 1955 and 2005. Conversely, the rate for cerebrovascular diseases (formerly the highest) generally has declined. These two causes alone account for more than half of the country’s annual death total. Other leading causes of death include heart disease, pneumonia, accidents, and suicide.

Most of the country’s hospitals are operated by unions, associations, or individuals and the remainder by local governments and the national government. The cost of health care has been rising gradually, partly because of the rapidly growing numbers of elderly people.

The Japanese people enjoy a varied diet. Traditional Japanese foods are being supplemented or replaced by Western types of food (notably red meats and dairy products). In addition, particularly Chinese but also Korean and other Asian cuisines are now commonplace on the Japanese menu. Although Japanese per capita consumption of calories and fat is generally lower than that of Europeans or Americans, many more Japanese are overweight now than in the past.

Welfare

The vast discrepancies that existed between the conditions of the wealthy and the poor before World War II have been reduced, largely as a result of the agricultural land reforms between 1946 and 1950 and of the application of a graduated income tax. The great majority of Japanese now regard themselves as middle class, although within this designation there still are considerable differences in income levels and property ownership. Most of those in the upper middle income group own their own homes, usually houses with several rooms surrounded by a garden; those in the lower middle-income group usually live in a two- to five-room house or (more commonly in urban areas) in an apartment house.

Social welfare services were vastly improved and expanded during the period of strong economic growth from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. Programs include social insurance (health insurance, pension insurance, unemployment insurance, and worker’s accident compensation insurance), services for the elderly and the physically and mentally handicapped, and care for disadvantaged children. The health insurance system, established in 1961, covers all citizens. The scale of payments into it varies, and in some cases no payments are required. Elderly people may receive many services, including medical examinations, home-help services, recreational services, and institutional care, as well as varying amounts of financial aid. Local governments are obliged to provide welfare services for the physically and mentally handicapped. Various children’s welfare programs also exist; for example, medical care services are free to expectant mothers and to young children from low-income families.

Employers and employees bear most of the costs of pension and health care plans for working people and their families, but the costs of most other social welfare programs are shouldered by national and local governments. Demographic changes and rapidly rising costs since the 1980s forced the government to introduce various reforms of the social security system, particularly in such areas as care of the elderly, health care, and old-age pensions. Although the government has tried to increase the quantity and quality of available old-age care, it also raised the eligibility age to receive full social-security pension benefits from 60 to 65 and enacted a revised nursing-care law that increases the portion of expenses borne by the beneficiaries.