Kyogi Sokai (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Kyogi Sokai (協議総会 Kyōgi sōkai), literally means “the consultative meeting”, is the annual joint meeting between the Legislative Council and the State Council of Japan to discusses about some important national issues.

Constitutionally, Kyogi Sokai only briefly mentioned in the 1931 Constitution in the articles about the Legislative Council:


 * "The Legislative Council annually held a consultative meeting with the State Council to discussing the national issues and national policies"

Kyogi Sokai's political functions only regulated by the series of political conventions developed in Japan since 1931.

Debates are more often occurred in Kyogi Sokai than in the Congress as the Constitution does not limited the number of sessions for Kyogi Sokai. In one-year period, Kyogi Sokai can convenes more than five times. If necessary, the Legislative Council can called the State Ministers to attending Kyogi Sokai and got questioned by all Councillors from two bodies about the matter of government policy.

The 1931 Constitution never mentioned the National Congress as Japan’s national parliament. Kyogi Sokai can described as the extra-constitutional pseudo-parliament since the body fulfill the criteria as an effective parliament, like United States Congress or British Parliament. The active but powerless Kyogi Sokai counterbalance with the ceremonial but powerful National Congress in the national politics of Japan. As result, Japan often referred as “the country with two parliaments”.