Comparison of Japan and Switzerland

Japan and Switzerland are two sovereign nation – states that greatly differ between each other from their sovereignty, government, population, and territory. Japan has both a larger territory and population size than Switzerland and their timelines of sovereignty are quite different, but their government systems share some similarities. These two nation states are prime examples of the similarities and differences between the variety of different groups on this planet.

Japan was always a sovereign state for it was never colonized but rather colonized other countries. However, the country experienced many conflicts over who was in control of the country across its history. The two main components that affected Japan’s ruling were powerful Japanese families/clans and Japan’s involvement in World War II. Japan’s participation in World War II is the main component that affected its sovereignty. Up until 1868, Japan was ruled under the Tokugawa clan since 1603. The country was run under a feudal system and was operated by the Tokugawa Shogunate (‘shogunate’ meaning ‘military regime’). The shogun, supreme military general, had ultimate power has the head of state, government, and commander of the military. For the next 265 years, the Tokugawa clan implements a policy of isolation from other nations and also eliminating trade with other nations, allowing Japan to develop its culture but also setting Japan back technologically. During this time period, the emperor served as only a figurehead. In 1868, a group of samurai overpowered the Tokugawa shogunate and restored the power of the emperor as the head of government (Hong et al., 2015). This kickstarted the Meiji Restoration period, which was aimed after the new emperor, Emperor Meiji. The now imperial (ruled by an emperor) government opened the country to other nations and foreign relations. The goal of the new government was to modernize Japan by incorporating Western influence and adopting a parliamentary government in 1889 accompanied with a constitution that gave the emperor executive power (‘Japan’, 2009). The Meiji Restoration period continued until the death of Emperor Meiji in 1912. After the Meiji period, Japan greatly expanded its empire westward into China and imperializing other Asian countries such as Vietnam and Korea (‘Japan’, 2009). During World War II (1839-1945), Japan formed an alliance with Germany and Italy known as the Axis powers. In 1941, Japan attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; this event brought the United States into World War II, joining the Allied forces against the Axis powers. In August of 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on two Japanese cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan, in order to prevent further destruction to its country, surrendered in the following days. In the following years, Japan was occupied by the Allied forces until they could once again be trusted. In 1947, Japan was forced to create a new constitution where the emperor no longer had executive power but now only served as a symbol for Japan; the power was shifted to the prime minister (‘Japan’, 2019). This constitution is still in effect today. Japan has a unitary form of government, specifically a parliamentary constitutional monarchy meaning that the country’s actual form of government is determined by its constitution and includes a parliament (legislative body of government). The prime minister is the executive power and leads the country while the emperor is the symbol for Japan. The national legislature is called the Diet, consisting of the House of Representatives, which consist of 465 members who serve four-year terms, and the House of Councillors, which consists of 242 members who serve six-year terms (Allinson, 2019). The prime minister, who must be a civilian (a person who is not in the armed forces) and member of the Diet, is elected by the Diet. The prime minister then chooses the members of his Cabinet, half of which must be members of the Diet. Japan’s highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of one chief justice, who is appointed by the emperor, and fourteen associate justices, who are appointed by the Cabinet (Allinson, 2019). In Japan, the minimum age to vote is eighteen. The majority of the members of the House of Representatives are determined by the voters. The majority of the members of the House of Councillors are also determined by voters. However, for the remaining members of both houses, Japan practices proportional representation, which is where political parties gain seats in the Diet in proportion to the number of votes cast for them (Allinson, 2019). Japan is an island chain located in the Pacific and east of the Korean Peninsula (‘Japan’, 2009). Japan possesses no land boundaries since it is an island; however, its coastline, which is the total length of the islands boundary between the land and water) is 29,751 kilometers (‘East’, n.d.). Japan’s total area is 377,915 square kilometers with land being 364,485 square kilometers and water being 13,430 square kilometers. Japan’s climate ranges from cool temperature towards the north and more tropical temperature towards the south; Japan’s land is also mainly mountainous (‘East’, n.d.). Japan also has 47 divisions called prefectures in which residents elect a governor, mayor, and local council (Allinson, 2019). Japan has a population of 126,698,000 where the majority of people practice both Shintoism and Buddhism. The percentages overlap with 70.4% of the Japanese practicing Shintoism and 69.8% of the Japanese practicing Buddhism (‘East’, n.d.). Japan is a developed country with a life expectancy at birth of 85.5 years, which makes them the second highest life expectancy in the world. The country’s gross domestic product is 5.443 trillion dollars while its gross domestic product per capita of 42,900 dollars. Japan is also the fourth largest economy in the world (‘East’, n.d.). The Japanese greatly value education and define success by what college a student goes to rather than the student’s career path. School in Japan runs from Monday to Friday; students also attend school for half a day on Saturdays two weeks per month (Allinson, 2019). High school in Japan lasts for three years rather than four.

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Switzerland, originally referred to as Helvetia by the Romans, started off as a group of Celtic people called Helvetians who later were conquered by the Holy Roman Empire in 58 B.C. and also became part of the Kingdom of Burgundy in 962, which was a collection of Western European countries during the Middle Ages (Ireland, 2019). During the1200s, the Habsburg family, also known as the House of Austria, had taken control of most Switzerland; the remaining free cantons (subdivisions of Switzerland) - Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden - joined together in order to defend their freedom against the Habsburg family. In August 1291, the three cantons met and signed the Perpetual Covenant, a defense agreement where the three cantons promised to aid each other against foreign powers (Ireland, 2019). This covenant began the confederation know as Switzerland. The Swiss Confederation had no central government, so each canton governed itself. Over the next century, Switzerland fought a number of wars against Austria for freedom. Leading into the 1400s, became a strong military force that won several wars; in 1477, Switzerland defeated the Duke of Burgundy and in 1499, defeated the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, thus winning complete independence (Ireland, 2019). However, their independence from the Roman Empire was not recognized by other nations until 1648. 150 years later during the French Revolution, France gained control of Switzerland and established the Helvetic Republic in 1798, which became Switzerland’s central government leaving the cantons with little governing power. After Napoleon Bonaparte’s, the French military leader, downfall in 1815, the Congress of Vienna, a series of meetings which took place between 1814 and 1815 to settle the problems that arose from war between France and other European nations, restored the Swiss Confederation with the central government having little governing power and guaranteed Switzerland’s power of neutrality, the state of supporting neither side of a conflict such as war (Stearns, 2019). In 1848, the nation adopted a new constitution which established a federal government that guaranteed individual rights, such as freedom of religion. Switzerland declared its neutrality during both World War I and World War II, but during World War II, Switzerland helped more than 100,000 refugees from other countries (Ireland, 2019). Switzerland’s government is a federal republic where political power is separated between the central government and the cantonal governments. Switzerland’s national legislature is called the Federal Assembly, consisting of the Council of States, which has 46 members who serve a four-year term, and the National Council, which has 200 members who serve a four-year term.

Rather than having a chief executive, the Swiss government has a Federal Council. The Federal Council consists of a seven-member Cabinet in which one member is elected by the Federal Assembly to serve as president for a one-year term, a position that is mainly for ceremonial purposes; the president cannot serve two terms (Ireland, 2019). Switzerland’s national court is the Federal Tribunal which consists of 38 judges who serve six-year terms and are elected by the Federal Assembly. The Swiss government practices the right of referendum, which allows the citizens to request a popular vote on a law within 100 days of the law’s passage, and the right of initiative, which allows the citizens to bring specific issues to light for a vote (Ireland, 2019). The minimum age to vote in Switzerland is eighteen. Switzerland is a landlocked nation located south of Germany and west of Austria. The nation shares its borders with 5 countries: Austria (158 kilometers), France (525 kilometers), Italy (698 kilometers), Liechtenstein (41 kilometers), and Germany (348 kilometers) making the country’s total boundary length 1,770 kilometers. Its total area is 41,277 square kilometers, with land being 39,997 square kilometers and water being 1,280 square kilometers (‘Europe’, n.d.). Switzerland’s climate is relatively temperate, however, it varies greatly from region to region due to the country’s variety of altitudes; the land is also mainly mountainous (Ireland, 2019). The nation is divided into cantons in which residents elect executive councils and legislatures. Switzerland has a population of 8,304,000 where the majority of its people practice Roman Catholicism (36.5% of the population) or Protestantism (24.5% of the population). Switzerland is a developed country with a life expectancy of 82.7 years, which gives it the title of twelfth highest life expectancy in the world. The country’s gross domestic product is 523.1 billion dollars while its gross domestic product per capita of 62,100 dollars, making its gross domestic product per capita the sixteenth highest in the world (‘Europe’, n.d.). Most of the cantons in Switzerland require students to attend school from age six to age fourteen. If a student plans to go to college, the student must go to one of three types of high schools: one that specializes in Greek and Latin, one that specializes in modern languages, or one that specializes in mathematics and science (Ireland, 2019). Since all the universities in Switzerland are public, students do not pay for tuition.

The two nation-states of Japan and Switzerland vary greatly in their sovereignty. Japan began as a state which grew to conquer other nations while Switzerland began as a state conquered by other nations but later gaining their sovereignty through war. Japan and Switzerland have fairly similar government structures except for the fact that Switzerland does not have a single person as the chief executive. Japan and Switzerland greatly differ in territory size and population size with Switzerland’s territory being only about 11 percent of Japan’s territory and its population being only 6.6 percent of Japan’s population. These two nation-states emphasize the similarities and differences between the variety of groups upon the world.