1. Pre-Meiji Period from a Legal Perspective

How did people live and organize their social relations in a society that did not know a “constitution”, a separation of powers or human rights? How was different Japanese law from Chinese and/or Korean ones? What kind of law was applied to “international” relations in this period?

Reading assignment

• HAMAMOTO Shotaro, "International Law, Regional Developments: East Asia", in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, vol. 5, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 907-926: up to paragraph 39.

Course material

• PPT

2. How the Modern Japanese Law Was Moulded

It is often alleged that Japan is the most striking example of a non-European State that successfully incorporated the European legal system. In which sense is this allegation correct (or wrong)?

Reading assignment

• HAMAMOTO (supra): paras. 40-84.
• ODA Hiroshi, Japanese Law, 3rd ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011, Ch. 1.
• YAMAMOTO Hajimé, « Une réception du constitutionnalisme : le cas du Japon », Le nouveau constitutionnalisme : Mélanges en l'honneur de Gérard Conac, Paris, Economica, 2001 (not obligatory): Ch. 1.

Course material

• PPT

3. Post-WWII Constitution and Legal System

How is the Japanese Government organized according to the current Constitution? Can we find any particularities in the Japanese form of the separation of powers? Does law really rule in today’s Japanese society?

Reading assignment

• MATSUI Shigenori, The Constitution of Japan, Oxford, Hart, 2011:1, Parts II, V; 8, Parts I, II.

Course material

• PPT
• Constitution of Japan
• Annual Report 2011, Ministry of Defense

4. Japan’s International Relations from a Legal Perspective

Is Japan’s attitude towards international law different from other countries? What are most touchy international law issues that Japan faces today? Territorial disputes? Whaling? FTAs? War Compensation?

Reading assignment

• Agreement on the Settlement of Problem concerning Property and Claims and on the Economic Co-operation between Japan and the Republic of Korea, 1965: in particular, Articles II and III.
• Nagoya High Court (Kanazawa Branch), Judgment, March 8, 2010.
• Digital Museum: The Comfort Women Issue and the Asian Women's Fund
• Constitutional Court of Korea, Decision, 2006Hun-Ma788, 30 August 2011.
• Supreme Court of Korea, Ruling, 24 May 2012.
  • Media Reports: Yonhap1, Yonhap2, Chosunilbo, Korea JoongAng Daily, Asahi, Mainichi

Course material

• PPT

• Form
  • Times New Roman, 12 point
  • line: 1.5
  • pages: 3
• Subject
  • Option 1: Death Penalty in Japan: Why still today? Shall it be abolished?
    • Constitution of Japan: Articles 13, 31, 36
    • Penal Code: Articles 9, 11, 77, 81, 82, 190, 240, 241
    • Code of Criminal Procedure: Articles 475, 476, 479
    • Press Conference by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, March 30, 2012
    • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Article 6
      • Human Rights Committee, 94th Session (See "Japan")
        • State Report: CCPR/C/JPN/5, paras. 130-131
        • Concludion Observations: CCPR/C/JPN/CO/5, paras. 16-17
    • Study Group on Death Penalty, Ministry of Justice (only in Japanese)
    • "3. Development without Abolition: Japan in the 21st Century", in David T. Johnson & Franklin E. Zimring, The Next Frontier: National Development, Political Change, and the Death Penalty in Asia, Oxford, Oxford Univ. Pr., 2009.
    • Itaru Tomiya ed., Capital Punishment in East Asia, Kyoto, Kyoto Univ. Pr., 2012.
  • Option 2: Any of the subjects dealt with in Part II
• Deadline: Thursday 21 June 2012
• Submission: to Ms. Ikei at the KUINEP Secretariat (Ryugakusei-ka), either in print or by e-mail