4 - Japan
The importance and evolution of legal institutions at the turn of the century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2011
Summary
Introduction
Japan is an archipelago of almost 4000 islands, formed by intersecting fault lines off the Asian continent. The largest are Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido. Japan's 3500-kilometre length creates great disparities in climate – from snowy Hokkaido in the north to tropical Okinawa in the south. Generally, however, Japan is a mountainous country. This fact is driven home by strong regionality and by the densely populated plains of the Kanto, Kansai and Chukyo regions of Honshu, each a centre of intense industrial and economic activity surrounding a major city – Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya respectively. The population of Japan is about 126 million, though its size and age composition are projected to change dramatically in the coming decades through ageing and a declining birth rate.
Japan is a constitutional monarchy. Its Parliament is named the Diet and is made up of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, both elected directly by the people. Japan's government is composed of legislative, administrative and judicial arms. Each is independent, though the Prime Minister and the majority of the Cabinet are drawn from the Diet. Japan's political parties have seen significant realignment at the turn of the century. The centrist Democratic Party of Japan, which took power in 2009, has been the first party to substantially challenge the post-1955 status quo of a Conservative ruling party (the Liberal Democratic Party) and a socialist opposition.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Law and Legal Institutions of AsiaTraditions, Adaptations and Innovations, pp. 120 - 150Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
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and , ‘Reorganization and Bankruptcy’, in (ed), Japanese Business Law, Kluwer, Alphen aan den Rijn, 2007Google Scholar
and , ‘Gatekeepers: A Comparative Critique of Admission to the Legal Profession and Japan's New Law Schools’, in and (eds), Legal Education in Asia, Routledge, London, 2009Google Scholar
, ‘Delegated Legislation’, in and (eds), Australian Administrative Law: Fundamentals, Principles and Doctrines, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007Google Scholar
, Things Japanese: Being Notes on Various Subjects Connected with Japan, for the Use of Travellers and Others, John Murray, London, 1905Google Scholar
and , Amakudari: The Hidden Fabric of Japan's Economy, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 2003Google Scholar
, ‘Confessions and the Right to Silence in Japan’, Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, vol. 21, no. 3, 1991, p. 415Google Scholar
, ‘Resolution of Traffic Accident Disputes and Judicial Activism in Japan’, Law in Japan, vol. 25, 1995, p. 19Google Scholar
, ‘Judicial Creation of Norms in Japanese Labor Law: Activism in the Service of – Stability?’, UCLA Law Review, vol. 43, 1996, p. 635Google Scholar
, and , ‘The Worlds, Vicissitudes, and Futures of Japan's Law’, in , and (eds), The Multiple Worlds of Japanese Law: Disjunctions and Conjunctions, University of Victoria, British Columbia, 2001Google Scholar
, The Rule of Law in Japan, Kluwer, New York, 2003
, ‘Transplants and Receptions’, in and (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006Google Scholar
, ‘The Paradox of Weak Power and Strong Authority and The Japanese State’, in and (eds), Asian States: Beyond the Developmental Perspective, Routledge, New York, 2005Google Scholar
and , Law and the Legal Process in Japan, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1988Google Scholar
, ‘Legal Principles Regarding Reductions and Terminations of Corporate Pension Benefits’ [‘Kigyou Nenkin Kyuufu Gengaku Uchikiri no Houri’], Jurisuto, vol. 1309, 2006, p. 70Google Scholar
, Japan's Big Bang: The Deregulation and Revitalisation of the Japanese Economy, Tuttle, Boston, 2000Google Scholar
, A History of Political Institutions in Japan, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, 1988Google Scholar
, originally published in MITI and the Japanese Miracle (1982), reprinted in , and (eds), Japanese Law in Context, Readings in Society, the Economy, and Politics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2001Google Scholar
, ‘Dispute Resolution in Contemporary Japan’, in (ed), Law in Japan: The Legal Order in a Changing Society, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1963Google Scholar
and , ‘The Americanization of Japanese Law’, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Economic Law, vol. 23, no. 2, 2002, p. 269Google Scholar
, Japan's Quiet Transformation: Social Change and Civil Society in the Twenty-first Century, Routledge, New York, 2004Google Scholar
, ‘Development of Comparative Law in East Asia’, in and (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006Google Scholar
, ‘The Law and Culture of the Apology in Korean Dispute Settlement (with Japan and the US in Mind)’, Michigan Journal of International Law, vol. 27, no. 1, 2005, p. 1Google Scholar
and , ‘Equilibrium Behavior and the Appearance of Power: Legislators, Bureaucrats and the Budget Process in the US and Japan’, originally published in and (eds), Structure and Policy in Japan and the United States (1995), reprinted in Milhaupt, C J, Ramseyer, J M and Young, M K (eds), Japanese Law in Context, Readings in Society, the Economy, and Politics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2001Google Scholar
, ‘Taking Kawashima Seriously: A Review of Japanese Research on Japanese Legal Consciousness and Disputing Behavior’, Law and Society Review, vol. 21, no. 2, 1987, p. 219CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, ‘Administrative Control of Japanese Judges’, originally published in (ed) Law and Technology in the Pacific Community (1991), reprinted in Milhaupt C J, Ramseyer, J M and Young, M K (eds), Japanese Law in Context, Readings in Society, the Economy, and Politics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2001Google Scholar
, ‘Law Reform, Lawyers, and Access to Justice’, in (ed), Japanese Business Law, Kluwer, Alphen aan den Rijn, 2007Google Scholar
, ‘Benefit Levels of the Old Age Basic Pension and Old Age Employee's Insurance Pension: A Legal Perspective [‘Rôrei Kiso Nenkin, Rôrei Kôsei Nenkin no Kyûfu Suijun: Hôgaku no Kenchi Kara’]Jurisuto, vol. 1282, 2005, p. 69Google Scholar
, ‘Civil Procedure Reforms in Japan: The Latest Round’, Journal of Japanese Law/ZJapanR, vol. 9, no. 18, 2004, p. 204Google Scholar
, ‘Japan's New Arbitration Law: Domestication Reinforcing Internationalisation?’, International Arbitration Law Review, vol. 7, no. 2, 2004, p. 54Google Scholar
, and , ‘Introduction: Japan's Gradual Transformation in Corporate Governance’, in , and (eds), Corporate Governance in the 21st Century: Japan's Gradual Transformation, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, ‘The Japanization of American Corporate Governance? Evidence of the Never-ending History of Corporate Law’, Asian-Pacific Law and Policy Journal, vol. 9, no. 1, 2007, p. 7Google Scholar
and , ‘The Rational Litigant: Settlement Amounts and Verdict Rates in Japan’, Journal of Legal Studies, vol. 18, no. 2, 1989, p. 263CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(ed), History of Law in Japan since 1868, Brill, Leiden, 2005
, Advice and Consent: The Politics of Consultation in Japan, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001Google Scholar
, ‘New Knowledge Concerning Japan's Legal System before 1868, Acquired from Japanese Sources by Western Writers since 1963’, in (ed), Law in Japan: A Turning Point, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2007Google Scholar
, An Introduction to Japanese Society, 2nd ed, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003Google Scholar
, ‘A Century of Innovation: The Development of Japanese Law, 1868–1961’, in (ed), Law in Japan: The Legal Order in a Changing Society, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1963Google Scholar
, ‘The Empty Space of the Modern in Japanese Law Discourse’, in and (eds), Adapting Legal Cultures, Hart, Oxford, 2001Google Scholar
, ‘Continuing Transactions and Persistent Myths: Contracts in Contemporary Japan’, Melbourne University Law Review, vol. 19, no. 2, 1993, p. 352Google Scholar
, ‘Re-regulating Japanese Transactions: The Competition Law Dimension’, in and (eds), Japanese Governance, Routledge, London, 2003Google Scholar
, Law and Social Change in Postwar Japan, Harvard University Press
, Community and State in the Japanese Farm Village: Farm Tenancy Conciliation, 1924–1938, Leuven University Press, Leuven, 2004Google Scholar
, ‘The Resolution of Karaoke Disputes: The Calculus of Institutions and Social Capital’, Journal of Japanese Studies, vol. 28, no. 2, 2002, p. 301CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, ‘Judicial Review of Administrative Guidance: Governmentally Encouraged Consensual Dispute Resolution in Japan’, Columbia Law Review, vol. 84, no. 4, 1984, p. 923CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naganuma Nike Missile Site Case II, Sapporo High Court, 5 August 1976, 27 Gyousai Reishuu 1175
Naganuma Nike Missile Site Case III, Supreme Court of Japan, 9 September 1982, 36 Saihan Minshuu 1679
Supreme Court of Japan, 12 March 1948, Keishuu 2-3-191
Supreme Court of Japan, 15 October 1958, Keishuu 12-14-3305
Supreme Court of Japan, 4 April 1973, Keishuu 27-3-265
Supreme Court of Japan, 6 November 1974, Keishuu 28-9-393
Supreme Court of Japan, 30 April 1975, Minshuu 29-4-572
Supreme Court of Japan, 17 July 1985, Minshuu 39-5-1100
Supreme Court of Japan, 17 July 1995, Minshuu 49-7-1789
Act on General Rules on the Application of Laws [Hou no Tekiyou ni Kansuru Tsuusokuhou], Act No. 78 of 2006
Act Regarding Lay Assessor Participation in Criminal Trials [Saiban'in no Sanka Suru Keiji Saiban ni Kan Suru Horitsu], Act No. 63 of 2004
Administrative Procedure Act [Gyousei Tetsuzuki Hou], Act No. 88 of 1993
Child Welfare Act [Jidou Fukushi Hou], Act. No. 164 of 1947
Civil Code [Minpou], Act No. 89 of 1896
Code of Criminal Procedure [Keiji Soshou Hou], Act No. 131 of 1948
Commercial Code [Shouhou], Act No. 48 of 1899
Constitution of Japan [Nihonkoku Kenpô], 1946
Financial System Reform Act [Kinyuu Shisutemu Kaikaku no Tame no Kankei Houritsu no Seibi Tou ni Kan Suru Houritsu], Act No. 107 of 1998
Home Appliance Recycling Act [Tokutei Kateiyokiki Saishohinkaho], Act No. 97 of 1998
Hot Springs Act [Onsenhou], Act No. 125 of 1948
Personal Status Litigation Act [Jinji Soshou Hou], Act No. 109 of 2003
, ‘Justice System Reform in Japan’, <http://www.reds.msh-paris.fr/communication/docs/foote.pdf>
House of Representatives <http://www.shugiin.go.jp/index.nsf/html/index_e.htm>
Japan Commercial Arbitration Association <http://www.jcaa.or.jp/e/index.html>
Japan Federation of Bar Associations <http://www.nichibenren.or.jp/en/>
Justice System Reform Council, Recommendations of the Justice System Reform Council: For a Justice System to Support Japan in the 21st Century (2001) <http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/policy/sihou/singikai/990612_e.html>
Ministry of Justice <http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/index.html>
Ministry of Justice, Office of Public Prosecutors <http://www.kensatsu.go.jp>
National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Population Projections for Japan: 2001–2050 (January 2002) <http://www.ipss.go.jp/pp-newest/e/ppfj02/ppfj02.pdf>
Provisional Promotion of Administrative Reform Deliberative Council, On Relations between Central and Local Government [Kuni to Chihou no Kankei Tou ni Kan Suru Toushin] (1989) <http://www.bunken.nga.gr.jp/siryousitu/hojyokin/gyokakushin1.pdf>
Supreme Court <http://www.courts.go.jp/english/>
and , ‘Lay Participation in the Japanese Justice System: A Few Preliminary Thoughts Regarding the Lay Assessor System (Saiban-in Seido) from Domestic Historical and International Psychological Perspectives’, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, vol. 37, no. 4, 2004, p. 935Google Scholar
and , ‘Reorganization and Bankruptcy’, in (ed), Japanese Business Law, Kluwer, Alphen aan den Rijn, 2007Google Scholar
and , ‘Gatekeepers: A Comparative Critique of Admission to the Legal Profession and Japan's New Law Schools’, in and (eds), Legal Education in Asia, Routledge, London, 2009Google Scholar
, ‘Delegated Legislation’, in and (eds), Australian Administrative Law: Fundamentals, Principles and Doctrines, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007Google Scholar
, Things Japanese: Being Notes on Various Subjects Connected with Japan, for the Use of Travellers and Others, John Murray, London, 1905Google Scholar
and , Amakudari: The Hidden Fabric of Japan's Economy, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 2003Google Scholar
, ‘Confessions and the Right to Silence in Japan’, Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, vol. 21, no. 3, 1991, p. 415Google Scholar
, ‘Resolution of Traffic Accident Disputes and Judicial Activism in Japan’, Law in Japan, vol. 25, 1995, p. 19Google Scholar
, ‘Judicial Creation of Norms in Japanese Labor Law: Activism in the Service of – Stability?’, UCLA Law Review, vol. 43, 1996, p. 635Google Scholar
, and , ‘The Worlds, Vicissitudes, and Futures of Japan's Law’, in , and (eds), The Multiple Worlds of Japanese Law: Disjunctions and Conjunctions, University of Victoria, British Columbia, 2001Google Scholar
, The Rule of Law in Japan, Kluwer, New York, 2003
, ‘Transplants and Receptions’, in and (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006Google Scholar
, ‘The Paradox of Weak Power and Strong Authority and The Japanese State’, in and (eds), Asian States: Beyond the Developmental Perspective, Routledge, New York, 2005Google Scholar
and , Law and the Legal Process in Japan, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1988Google Scholar
, ‘Legal Principles Regarding Reductions and Terminations of Corporate Pension Benefits’ [‘Kigyou Nenkin Kyuufu Gengaku Uchikiri no Houri’], Jurisuto, vol. 1309, 2006, p. 70Google Scholar
, Japan's Big Bang: The Deregulation and Revitalisation of the Japanese Economy, Tuttle, Boston, 2000Google Scholar
, A History of Political Institutions in Japan, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, 1988Google Scholar
, originally published in MITI and the Japanese Miracle (1982), reprinted in , and (eds), Japanese Law in Context, Readings in Society, the Economy, and Politics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2001Google Scholar
, ‘Dispute Resolution in Contemporary Japan’, in (ed), Law in Japan: The Legal Order in a Changing Society, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1963Google Scholar
and , ‘The Americanization of Japanese Law’, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Economic Law, vol. 23, no. 2, 2002, p. 269Google Scholar
, Japan's Quiet Transformation: Social Change and Civil Society in the Twenty-first Century, Routledge, New York, 2004Google Scholar
, ‘Development of Comparative Law in East Asia’, in and (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006Google Scholar
, ‘The Law and Culture of the Apology in Korean Dispute Settlement (with Japan and the US in Mind)’, Michigan Journal of International Law, vol. 27, no. 1, 2005, p. 1Google Scholar
and , ‘Equilibrium Behavior and the Appearance of Power: Legislators, Bureaucrats and the Budget Process in the US and Japan’, originally published in and (eds), Structure and Policy in Japan and the United States (1995), reprinted in Milhaupt, C J, Ramseyer, J M and Young, M K (eds), Japanese Law in Context, Readings in Society, the Economy, and Politics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2001Google Scholar
, ‘Taking Kawashima Seriously: A Review of Japanese Research on Japanese Legal Consciousness and Disputing Behavior’, Law and Society Review, vol. 21, no. 2, 1987, p. 219CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, ‘Administrative Control of Japanese Judges’, originally published in (ed) Law and Technology in the Pacific Community (1991), reprinted in Milhaupt C J, Ramseyer, J M and Young, M K (eds), Japanese Law in Context, Readings in Society, the Economy, and Politics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2001Google Scholar
, ‘Law Reform, Lawyers, and Access to Justice’, in (ed), Japanese Business Law, Kluwer, Alphen aan den Rijn, 2007Google Scholar
, ‘Benefit Levels of the Old Age Basic Pension and Old Age Employee's Insurance Pension: A Legal Perspective [‘Rôrei Kiso Nenkin, Rôrei Kôsei Nenkin no Kyûfu Suijun: Hôgaku no Kenchi Kara’]Jurisuto, vol. 1282, 2005, p. 69Google Scholar
, ‘Civil Procedure Reforms in Japan: The Latest Round’, Journal of Japanese Law/ZJapanR, vol. 9, no. 18, 2004, p. 204Google Scholar
, ‘Japan's New Arbitration Law: Domestication Reinforcing Internationalisation?’, International Arbitration Law Review, vol. 7, no. 2, 2004, p. 54Google Scholar
, and , ‘Introduction: Japan's Gradual Transformation in Corporate Governance’, in , and (eds), Corporate Governance in the 21st Century: Japan's Gradual Transformation, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, ‘The Japanization of American Corporate Governance? Evidence of the Never-ending History of Corporate Law’, Asian-Pacific Law and Policy Journal, vol. 9, no. 1, 2007, p. 7Google Scholar
and , ‘The Rational Litigant: Settlement Amounts and Verdict Rates in Japan’, Journal of Legal Studies, vol. 18, no. 2, 1989, p. 263CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(ed), History of Law in Japan since 1868, Brill, Leiden, 2005
, Advice and Consent: The Politics of Consultation in Japan, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001Google Scholar
, ‘New Knowledge Concerning Japan's Legal System before 1868, Acquired from Japanese Sources by Western Writers since 1963’, in (ed), Law in Japan: A Turning Point, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2007Google Scholar
, An Introduction to Japanese Society, 2nd ed, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003Google Scholar
, ‘A Century of Innovation: The Development of Japanese Law, 1868–1961’, in (ed), Law in Japan: The Legal Order in a Changing Society, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1963Google Scholar
, ‘The Empty Space of the Modern in Japanese Law Discourse’, in and (eds), Adapting Legal Cultures, Hart, Oxford, 2001Google Scholar
, ‘Continuing Transactions and Persistent Myths: Contracts in Contemporary Japan’, Melbourne University Law Review, vol. 19, no. 2, 1993, p. 352Google Scholar
, ‘Re-regulating Japanese Transactions: The Competition Law Dimension’, in and (eds), Japanese Governance, Routledge, London, 2003Google Scholar
, Law and Social Change in Postwar Japan, Harvard University Press
, Community and State in the Japanese Farm Village: Farm Tenancy Conciliation, 1924–1938, Leuven University Press, Leuven, 2004Google Scholar
, ‘The Resolution of Karaoke Disputes: The Calculus of Institutions and Social Capital’, Journal of Japanese Studies, vol. 28, no. 2, 2002, p. 301CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, ‘Judicial Review of Administrative Guidance: Governmentally Encouraged Consensual Dispute Resolution in Japan’, Columbia Law Review, vol. 84, no. 4, 1984, p. 923CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naganuma Nike Missile Site Case II, Sapporo High Court, 5 August 1976, 27 Gyousai Reishuu 1175
Naganuma Nike Missile Site Case III, Supreme Court of Japan, 9 September 1982, 36 Saihan Minshuu 1679
Supreme Court of Japan, 12 March 1948, Keishuu 2-3-191
Supreme Court of Japan, 15 October 1958, Keishuu 12-14-3305
Supreme Court of Japan, 4 April 1973, Keishuu 27-3-265
Supreme Court of Japan, 6 November 1974, Keishuu 28-9-393
Supreme Court of Japan, 30 April 1975, Minshuu 29-4-572
Supreme Court of Japan, 17 July 1985, Minshuu 39-5-1100
Supreme Court of Japan, 17 July 1995, Minshuu 49-7-1789
Act on General Rules on the Application of Laws [Hou no Tekiyou ni Kansuru Tsuusokuhou], Act No. 78 of 2006
Act Regarding Lay Assessor Participation in Criminal Trials [Saiban'in no Sanka Suru Keiji Saiban ni Kan Suru Horitsu], Act No. 63 of 2004
Administrative Procedure Act [Gyousei Tetsuzuki Hou], Act No. 88 of 1993
Child Welfare Act [Jidou Fukushi Hou], Act. No. 164 of 1947
Civil Code [Minpou], Act No. 89 of 1896
Code of Criminal Procedure [Keiji Soshou Hou], Act No. 131 of 1948
Commercial Code [Shouhou], Act No. 48 of 1899
Constitution of Japan [Nihonkoku Kenpô], 1946
Financial System Reform Act [Kinyuu Shisutemu Kaikaku no Tame no Kankei Houritsu no Seibi Tou ni Kan Suru Houritsu], Act No. 107 of 1998
Home Appliance Recycling Act [Tokutei Kateiyokiki Saishohinkaho], Act No. 97 of 1998
Hot Springs Act [Onsenhou], Act No. 125 of 1948
Personal Status Litigation Act [Jinji Soshou Hou], Act No. 109 of 2003
, ‘Justice System Reform in Japan’, <http://www.reds.msh-paris.fr/communication/docs/foote.pdf>
House of Representatives <http://www.shugiin.go.jp/index.nsf/html/index_e.htm>
Japan Commercial Arbitration Association <http://www.jcaa.or.jp/e/index.html>
Japan Federation of Bar Associations <http://www.nichibenren.or.jp/en/>
Justice System Reform Council, Recommendations of the Justice System Reform Council: For a Justice System to Support Japan in the 21st Century (2001) <http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/policy/sihou/singikai/990612_e.html>
Ministry of Justice <http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/index.html>
Ministry of Justice, Office of Public Prosecutors <http://www.kensatsu.go.jp>
National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Population Projections for Japan: 2001–2050 (January 2002) <http://www.ipss.go.jp/pp-newest/e/ppfj02/ppfj02.pdf>
Provisional Promotion of Administrative Reform Deliberative Council, On Relations between Central and Local Government [Kuni to Chihou no Kankei Tou ni Kan Suru Toushin] (1989) <http://www.bunken.nga.gr.jp/siryousitu/hojyokin/gyokakushin1.pdf>
Supreme Court <http://www.courts.go.jp/english/>
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