In cases where there is an urgent need to preserve the economic order of the State and to ensure the public welfare when confronted with a state of emergency disaster, when the Diet is in adjournment or the House of Representatives is in dissolution, and further, there is no time to determine to convoke an extraordinary session in the Diet or to convoke an emergency session of the House of Councilors for its action, the cabinet may enact Cabinet Order in order to take necessary measures on the matters set forth in each of the following items:
災害緊急事態に際し国の経済の秩序を維持し、及び公共の福祉を確保するため緊急の必要がある場合において、国会が閉会中又は衆議院が解散中であり、かつ、臨時会の召集を決定し、又は参議院の緊急集会を求めてその措置をまついとまがないときは、内閣は、次の各号に掲げる事項について必要な措置をとるため、政令を制定することができる。
rationing or restriction or ban on the transfer or delivery of goods of daily necessity in critical shortage;
その供給が特に不足している生活必需物資の配給又は譲渡若しくは引渡しの制限若しくは禁止
determining a ceiling on prices of commodities, consideration for services, and other payments for emergency disaster control measures, disaster recovery efforts, and stable lives of the citizenry;
災害応急対策若しくは災害復旧又は国民生活の安定のため必要な物の価格又は役務その他の給付の対価の最高額の決定
deferment of monetary debts (exclusive of wages, accident compensation payments, payment of monetary debts involving labor relations, withdrawals from accounts in banks or financial institutions for the payment of deposits, etc.); extension of the duration of a creditor's rights.
金銭債務の支払（賃金、災害補償の給付金その他の労働関係に基づく金銭債務の支払及びその支払のためにする銀行その他の金融機関の預金等の支払を除く。）の延期及び権利の保存期間の延長
Cabinet Order enacted pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph may provide that any person in violation of any provision of that Cabinet Order is liable to imprisonment for not more than two years, a fine of not more than one hundred thousand yen, penal detention, a petty fine, or confiscation, or cumulative imposition of two or more penalties; that when a representative of a corporation, or any agent, employee, or other worker of either the corporation or an individual has committed a violation of that Cabinet Order with respect to the business of the corporation or the individual, the person who committed the act is punished, and in addition, a fine, petty fine, or confiscation prescribed in the respective provisions is imposed also on the corporation or the individual; and that where confiscation of objects cannot be enforced either in whole or in part, the monetary value of the objects is additionally collected.
前項の規定により制定される政令には、その政令の規定に違反した者に対して二年以下の拘禁刑、十万円以下の罰金、拘留、科料若しくは没収の刑を科し、又はこれを併科する旨の規定、法人の代表者又は法人若しくは人の代理人、使用人その他の従業者がその法人又は人の業務に関してその政令の違反行為をした場合に、その行為者を罰するほか、その法人又は人に対して各本条の罰金、科料又は没収の刑を科する旨の規定及び没収すべき物件の全部又は一部を没収することができない場合にその価額を追徴する旨の規定を設けることができる。
In cases where Cabinet Order enacted pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) is no longer required, the cabinet must immediately repeal it.
内閣は、第一項の規定により政令を制定した場合において、その必要がなくなつたときは、直ちに、これを廃止しなければならない。
The cabinet must, upon enactment of Cabinet Order pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1), immediately determine to convoke an extraordinary session of the Diet or to convoke an emergency session of the House of Councilors; it must further take measures to enact an Act to replace the Cabinet Order if the measures taken are to be continued, and for other cases, it must seek approval for the Cabinet Order enacted.
内閣は、第一項の規定により政令を制定したときは、直ちに、国会の臨時会の召集を決定し、又は参議院の緊急集会を求め、かつ、そのとつた措置をなお継続すべき場合には、その政令に代わる法律が制定される措置をとり、その他の場合には、その政令を制定したことについて承認を求めなければならない。
Any Cabinet Order enacted pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1), unless it has already been repealed or has expired, ceases to be effective, either at the same time as the implementation of an Act which may have been enacted at an extraordinary session of the Diet or at an emergency session of the House of Councilors to replace that Cabinet Order referred to in the preceding paragraph, or at the time of a decision which may have been taken at either session not to enact such an Act to replace the Cabinet Order.
Beyond the cases described in the preceding paragraph, any Cabinet Order enacted pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1), unless it has already been repealed or has expired, ceases to be effective twenty days from the day of opening of an extraordinary session of the Diet provided for in paragraph (4) or upon the termination of the extraordinary session, whichever comes earlier, or ten days from the day of opening of an emergency session of the House of Councilors provided for in paragraph (4) or upon the termination of the emergency session, whichever comes earlier.
When Cabinet Order has ceased to be effective pursuant to the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs, the Cabinet must immediately make a public notice to that effect.
内閣は、前二項の規定により政令がその効力を失つたときは、直ちに、その旨を告示しなければならない。
If penalties are provided for in Cabinet Order enacted pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1), prior laws continue to govern in application of penalties to acts committed while the Cabinet Order remained in effect, even after the Cabinet Order has been repealed, has expired, or it has ceased to be effective pursuant to the provisions of either paragraph (5) or (6).
the Cabinet
内閣
The body that holds executive power: the Prime Minister and the other Ministers of State (Articles 65 and 66). It administers the law, conducts foreign affairs, prepares the budget and issues Cabinet Orders (政令); Article 73 is the list. It answers to the Diet as a body (Article 66, paragraph (3)), and must resign if the House of Representatives passes a vote of no confidence and is not dissolved within ten days (Article 69).
Written by AI using Constitution, Arts. 65, 66, 69, 73 and Wikipedia: Cabinet of Japan as a reference.
fine
罰金
A criminal punishment of paying money to the state, of 10,000 yen or more, or less where it is reduced (Penal Code, Article 15). It ranks below imprisonment (拘禁刑) and above penal detention (拘留) and a petty fine (科料) (Articles 9 and 10, paragraph (1)). A person who cannot pay it in full is held in a workhouse (労役場) for one day to two years, or up to three years where fines are imposed together, a period set when the sentence is passed (Article 18, paragraphs (1), (3) and (4)); not within thirty days of the sentence becoming final without the person's consent (paragraph (5)). If it is not enforced for three years after the sentence becomes final, the person is released from it by prescription (Articles 31 and 32, item (v)); the three years do not run while its execution is suspended under law or the person is abroad, and an act of execution interrupts them (Articles 33 and 34, paragraph (2)).
Written by AI using Penal Code, Arts. 9, 10, 15, 18, 31 to 34 as a reference.
the Diet
国会
Japan's parliament, and under Article 41 the only body that can make an Act (法律). It has two chambers, the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, both made up of elected members (Articles 42 and 43). It designates the Prime Minister, approves the budget and treaties, and can start the process of amending the Constitution. A Cabinet Order (政令) or Ministerial Order (省令) may impose a duty or a penalty only where an Act the Diet passed says it may.
Written by AI using Constitution, Arts. 41, 42, 43 and Wikipedia: National Diet as a reference.
House of Councillors
参議院
The upper of the Diet's two chambers (Article 42). Its members serve six years, half of them elected every three years, and it is never dissolved (Article 46) — so it always has sitting members, where the House of Representatives can have none. That is not the same as always being open: when the House of Representatives is dissolved the House of Councillors is closed at the same time, and during that closure it sits only if the Cabinet calls it into emergency session because the country needs one (Article 54, paragraph (2)).
Written by AI using Constitution, Arts. 42, 46, 54 and Wikipedia: House of Councillors (Japan) as a reference.
House of Representatives
衆議院
The lower of the Diet's two chambers (Article 42). Its members serve four years, and the term ends early whenever the House is dissolved (Article 45) — which is the difference that matters: the House of Councillors cannot be dissolved. Where the two chambers disagree, the House of Representatives can prevail, on an Act by passing it again with two thirds of the members present (Article 59, paragraph (2)), and on the budget, treaties and the choice of Prime Minister by its decision simply becoming the Diet's.
Written by AI using Constitution, Arts. 42, 45, 59, 60, 61, 67 and Wikipedia: House of Representatives (Japan) as a reference.
imprisonment
拘禁刑
The punishment of being held in a penal institution (刑事施設), for life or for a fixed term of one month to twenty years (Penal Code, Article 12, paragraphs (1) and (2)); a fixed term can be raised to thirty years where the punishment is aggravated, or cut below one month where it is reduced (Article 14, paragraph (2)). To help the person reform and rehabilitate, they may be made to do work or given guidance (Article 12, paragraph (3)). It ranks below the death penalty and above a fine (罰金) among the principal punishments (Articles 9 and 10, paragraph (1)). It replaced imprisonment with work (懲役) and imprisonment without work (禁錮) when the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc. (Act No. 67 of 2022) came into force (Act No. 67 of 2022, Article 2), and a person sentenced to either is treated, for the rules on a person's qualifications, as sentenced to imprisonment for the same term (Act No. 68 of 2022, Article 443, paragraph (1)).
Written by AI using Penal Code, Arts. 9, 10, 12, 14, Act No. 67 of 2022, Art. 2 and Act No. 68 of 2022, Art. 443 as a reference.
penal detention
拘留
A short criminal punishment of being held in a penal institution (刑事施設) for one day to less than thirty days (Penal Code, Article 16, paragraph (1)). As with imprisonment (拘禁刑), the person may be made to do work or given guidance to help them reform (paragraph (2)). It ranks below a fine (罰金) and above a petty fine (科料) (Articles 9 and 10, paragraph (1)).
Written by AI using Penal Code, Arts. 9, 10, 16 as a reference.