Vocab List - Politics and Government
In this post, I thought I would introduce some key vocabulary related to the topic of ‘Politics and Government’. You may well find, when you go abroad, or when you talk with foreigners in Japan, that they have some interest in the Japanese political situation. Using this vocabulary you should be able to explain the basics.
| 政府 - the government | 小泉政権 - the Koizumi administration |
| 自民党 - The Liberal Democratic Party (the LDP) | 民主党 - The Democratic Party (of Japan) - (the DPJ) |
| 共産党 - The Communist Party | 社会党 - The Socialist Party |
| 右翼・右派 - (the) right wing | 左翼・左派 - (the) left-wing |
| 保守的な - conservative | 自由主義 - liberal |
| アメリカ風新自由主義 - American Neo-Liberalism | イギリスの労働党 - The UK Labour Party |
| 外務省 - The Foreign Ministry | 文部省 - Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology |
| 官僚 - (the) bureaucracy | 議事堂 - the Diet building |
| 参議院 - the Upper House | 衆議院 - the Lower House |
| 総理大臣 - Prime Minister | 大臣 - Minister |
| 政治家 - politician | 知事 - governor |
| 地域自治体 - local government body, local authorities | 小政府政策 - a ’small government’ policy |
| 税務署 - Tax office | 税金引き上げ - a raise in taxes, an increase in taxation |
| 消費税 - consumer tax (米), VAT (英) | 所得税 - income tax |
| 出産率 - the birthrate | 終身雇用 - lifelong employment, lifetime employment |
| 日本憲法 - the Japanese Constitution | 九条 - Article 9 (of the Constitution) |
| 核拡散 - Nuclear Proliferation | 捕鯨 - whaling |
| 拉致問題 - the abduction issue (with North Korea) | 被爆者 - victims of the atomic bombings |
| 慰安婦 - comfort women, sex slaves | 軍事力 - military strength |
| 防衛省 - the Defense Ministry | 集団的防衛権 - the right to collective self-defense |
| 選挙 - an election | 投票者 - voters |
| 当選する - win an election | 落選する - lose an election |
| 発言の自由 - the freedom of speech | マスコミ - the media |
| 汚職 - corruption | 派閥 - a (political) faction |
| 賄賂を受け取る - take a bribe | 賄賂を使う・贈る - offer a bribe, grease someone’s palm |
| 賄賂の効く - bribable, corruptible | 賄賂の効かない - unbribable, incorruptible |
| 法相 - the Justice Minister | 外相 - the Foreign Minister |
| 官房長官 - the (official) government spokesman | 記者会見 - a press conference, a news conference |
| 改革 - reform | 革命 - revolution |
| 維新 - restoration | 暴動 - riots, rioting |
| 民主主義 - democracy (democratic) | 共産主義 - communism (communist) |
| 資本主義 - capitalism (capitalist) | 封建制度 - a feudal system |
| 社会主義 - socialism (socialist) | 無政府論 - anarchy, anarchism (anarchist) |
| 専制的な - dictatorial, fundamentalist | 軍事政権 - military government |
| 権力 - power, influence | 格差社会 - a society of rich and poor an unfair society |
| 貧富の差 - the gap between rich and poor | 高齢化社会 - an aging society |
| 少子化 - the declining birth-rate | 与党 - the ruling party, the government |
| 議会 - the Diet, parliament | 議案を可決する - pass a bill, enact a bill, enact legislation |
| 反米活動 - anti-american activity | 独立 - independent |
| 支持層 - power base, support base | 支持率 - support ratings, popularity ratings |
| 世論調査 - public opinion poll | 自衛隊 - the Self Defense Forces (the SDF) |
| ミサイル防衛 - missile defense | 核兵器 - nuclear weapons |
I hope that is enough to start you thinking about explaining Japanese political issues to foreigners you meet, here and abroad.
Post a Comment