Kansai system of government

Teacher note

Worksheet

Kansai cities such as Sakai and Minoh function within regional – i.e. prefectural – national and international communities. It is the same for Sakai’s sister city Wellington, and Minoh’s sister city Hutt and other New Zealand cities. And there are diverse communities within those levels of government.

Government structures and policies affect how groups and individuals may participate - the Japanese sister city connections give New Zealanders introductions they can use to help them participate in households, schools, city programmes and businesses in the other place – and vice versa.

In both Japan and New Zealand, local governments sometimes have more, sometimes have less power over local situations – depending on what they seek and central government gives.

Both nations have constitutions – Japan’s as with the USA is written; New Zealand’s is unwritten. Each constitution is distinctive – as are the electoral and parliamentary systems.

The people sometimes use the power of their groups to lobby – and even when not so powerful but driven by beliefs, people lobby.

Electors and political leaders sometimes want to change the structure of government – and to put different emphases on policies.

Consider how Sakai City deals with its rubbish collection and disposal, with school lunch box dilemmas and other issues that are close to the people.

This chapter of the Kansai through Kiwi eyes DVD offers a number of illustrative examples of systems of government in the New Zealand and Kansai settings, including,

Possible key understandings that you may wish students in your class to explore are outlined below:

Government decisions affect people’s lives.

Society can be influenced to varying degrees of significance by government decisions.

People seek to influence the government decision-making process in order to advance what they consider beneficial to society.

Worksheets can be used to explore the central concept (i.e., systems of government) of this chapter.

Look for further lines of inquiry for the classroom