This is the Democratic Party of Japan's advertisement

The Komeito party's advertisement.

American Politics have a particular ideal about law, that being separation of religion and state. Another thing about the American system is there is only two major parties, the republicans and democrats. In Japan its not a law, but for the most part there is a separation of state and religion, but they do have five parties for their parliament called the Diet: Liberal Democratic, Democratic party, New Komeito, Japanese Communist, and Social Democratic Party.

The one of interest to me is the New Komeito. This is both a religious party and also a political party. This party is run by the Soka Gakkai. It has shown influence in Japan by attempting to be very active in the government trying to get its party to power. I think with the Japanese people not voting all too often, this also helps the party gain power. About only 50% of people vote in Japan, and the Soka Gakkai religion has about 18% of Japan's population. This gives them a strong ground for entering into the Diet ever since its starting to be in politics.

Soka Gakkai's website:
www.sgi.org

Links to two sides of the Japanese Diet:
http://www.ipu.org/cntr-e/japan.htm