Law in Japan : a turning point

This volume explores major developments in Japanese law over the latter half of the twentieth century and looks ahead to the future. Modeled on the classic work Law in Japan: The Legal Order in a Changing Society (1963), edited by Arthur Taylor von Mehren, it features the work of thirty-five leading legal experts on most of the major fields of Japanese law, with special attention to the increasingly important areas of environmental law, health law, intellectual property, and insolvency. The contributors adopt a variety of theoretical approaches, including legal, economic, historical, and socio-legal. As Law and Japan: A Turning Point is the only volume to take inventory of the key areas of Japanese law and their development since the 1960s, it will be an important reference tool and starting point for research on the Japanese legal system. Topics addressed include the legal system (with chapters on legal history, the legal profession, the judiciary, the legislative and political process, and legal education); the individual and the state (with chapters on constitutional law, administrative law, criminal justice, environmental law, and health law); and the economy (with chapters on corporate law, contracts, labor and employment law, antimonopoly law, intellectual property, taxation, and insolvency). Japanese law is in the midst of a watershed period. This book captures the major trends by presenting views on important changes in the field and identifying catalysts for change in the twenty-first century.

Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction and Overview: Japanese Law at a Turning Point / Daniel H. Foote Part I. The Legal System and the Law's Processes 1. New Knowledge Concerning Japan's Legal System before 1868, Acquired from Japanese Sources by Western Writers since 1963 / Carl Steenstrup 2. Criminal Trials in the Early Meiji Era - with Particular Reference to Ukagai / Shirei System / Nobuhiko Kasumi 3. Law, Culture, and Conflict: Dispute Resolution in Postwar Japan / Eric A. Feldman 4. The Development of an Adversary System in Japanese Civil Procedure / Yasuhei Taniguchi 5. The Japanese Judiciary: Maintaining Integrity, Autonomy, and the Public Trust / John O. Haley 6. The Rise of the Large Japanese Business Law Firm and Its Prospects for the Future / Yasuharu Nagashima and E. Anthony Zaloom 7. The Legislative Dynamic: Evidence from the Deregulation of Financial Services in Japan / Yoshiro Miwa and J. Mark Ramseyer 8. Legal Education / Kahei Rokumoto Part II. The Individual, the State, and the Law 9. Ongoing Changes in the Infrastructure of a Constitutional System: From "Bureaucracy" to Democracy / Kazuyuki Takahashi 10. The Constitution of Japan: "Pacifism" and Mass Media Freedom / Lawrence W. Beer 11. Development of the Concepts of Transparency and Accountability in Japanese Administrative Law / Katsuya Uga 12. The Politics of Transparency in Japanese Administrative Law / Tom Ginsburg 13. The Development of Criminal Law in Japan since 1961 / Koya Matsuo 14. Globalization and Japanese Criminal Law / Joseph L. Hoffmann 15. Criminal Justice in Japan / David T. Johnson 16. Litigation, Administrative Relief, and Political Settlement for Pollution Victime Compensation: Minamata Mercury Poisoning after Fifty Years / Koichiro Kujikura 17. Medical Error, Deception, Self-Critical Analysis, and Law's Impact: A Comparative Examination / Robert B. Leflar Part III. The Law and the Economy 18. Reexamining Legal Transplants: The Director's Fiduciary Duty in Japanese Corporate Law / Hideki Kanda and Curtis J. Milhaupt 19. Japan's "Era of Contract" / Takashi Uchida and Veronica L. Taylor 20. From Security to Mobility? Changing Aspects of Japanese Dismissal Law / Ryuichi Yamakawa 21. Concentrated Power: The Paradox of Antitrust in Japan / Harry First and Tadashi Shiraishi 22. The Changing Roles of the Patent Office and the Courts after Fijitsu / TI / Naoki Koizumi and Toshiko Takenaka 23. The Reform of the Japanese Tax System in the Latter Half of the Twentieth Century and into the Twenty-first Century / Hiroshi Kaneko 24. Some Observations on the Japanese Tax System at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century / Christopher H. Hanna 25. Insolvency Law for a New Century: Japan's Revised Framework for Economic Failures / Kent Anderson and Makoto Ito Appendix A Dan Fenno Henderson: A Tribute / Daniel H. Foote Appendix B Selected Writings of Dan Fenno Henderson / Robert Britt Contributors Index