Japan has just entered into a new era: Reiwa. Looking back, the previous era (Heisei) has seen many changes, domestically and internationally. In the early Heisei years, Japan’s bubble economy collapsed, and a long period of recession followed. The post-War phenomena such as keiretsu and lifetime employment weakened. Internationally, globalisation progressed rapidly. Neighbouring countries such as China were experiencing rapid economic development. In response to the various changes, the Japanese government implemented different reforms such as deregulation, administrative reform, and the reform of the justice administration system which this session focuses on.

In 1998, the Justice System Reform Council was established to study what justice administration system Japan would need in the 21st century. Pursuant to recommendations from this Council, the Japanese government in 2001 launched a broad-scale reform, which covered many different aspects of the justice administration system such as the criminal justice system, lay-participation, accessibility to legal service, legal education and the lawyer system. The objective is to tie the other reforms together under the rule of law, which is to be attained in the Japanese society. What reforms have been made in the justice system in the Heisei Era? Were they successful or did they fail? Why? What will be the outlook of the justice system in the Reiwa Era?

The papers in this session explore different aspects of the reformed justice administration system, evaluate the success or failure of the reforms, and discuss the prospective development in the Reiwa era.

Judicial Reform in the Heisei Era and its Consequences

Takayuki Ii (Senshu University)

The Heisei Era (1989-2019) can be called an era of judicial reform. The reform seems to be divided in three parts. Around 1990, the bar associations, the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court proposed and proceeded with reforms on the judiciary. In the 2000s, the Justice System Reform Council in the Cabinet recommended various reforms, which were put in practice for the most part. Around 2010, the criminal justice areas which had previously been off limits to reform were also addressed in response to a series of scandals.

How can we evaluate the judicial reform of the Heisei Era? The distinctive feature of the judicial reform in the Heisei Era is its special attention to the “public point of view”. The presence of and accountability to the public seem to have merits as well as limitations in reforming the judiciary. This paper investigates the scope of reform of the Heisei Era in view of the current judicial system and administration in Japan.

Reviewing the Criminal Justice System in Japan in the Heisei Era

Mari Hirayama (Hakuoh University)

In this presentation, I am going to review the progress of the criminal justice system in Japan in the Heisei Era and discuss about the remaining issues there. Especially after late 1990’s, Japanese criminal justice system has faced many new difficult issues and has produced so many legislations. Behind these movements, there have been two important factors: one is awareness for victims and victims’ inputs in the criminal procedure (these are often combined with a fear for crime), and the other is lay participation in the criminal justice system which had been dominated by professionals.

The first factors were realized as many new legislations such as Reformed Juvenile Act, Domestic Violence Act, Child Abuse Act and Stalker Regulation Act, etc. and Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure had been reformed for a few times, and some of these reforms were triggered by victims’ outcries. Also, since December 2008, victims of certain serious crime can participate in criminal trials, not only as witnesses but also as victim participants. As for the latter factor, since May 2009, the lay judge system and mandatory prosecution systems by the Prosecution Review Commissions were introduced.

In this presentation, I am going to discuss how these two big factors has shaped the criminal justice system in the Heisei Era, especially after late 1990’s, and what possible further reforms are.

“The Hidden Legal Needs” in Japan

Noriko Hashiba (Seikei University)

In the 1990s, the justice system in Japan underwent reform. The main areas covered by this reform included the introduction of trials by lay judges, the establishment of law schools, and the enactment of the Comprehensive Legal Support Act. One can also cite the strengthening of the civil legal aid system and the court-appointed defense lawyer system as results of this reform. However, there still are “hidden legal needs”. Certain sections of the population, such as the elderly, the disabled, and children, still have difficulties in accessing the justice system.

This paper examines the measures for substantially expanding the access to the justice system by pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of these reforms.

The Reformed Lawyer System in the Heisei Era in Japan and Its Outlook

Kay-Wah Chan (Macquarie University)

In 2001, Japan launched a substantial reform of the justice administration system on the basis that its society would become more legalised because of domestic and international developments. The Japanese society was expected to change from the bureaucracy-monitored model to a post-crisis liability-seeking system. Legal needs were anticipated to increase and become diversified and complicated. Lawyers (bengoshi) were expected to become doctors in people’s social lives. There however was a scarcity of lawyers. The reform aimed to expand the population of the legal professionals and improve their quality.

As a result, a postgraduate law school system was introduced. With an aim to strengthen their business structure, bengoshi were permitted to incorporate since 2002. As a result of the reform, the final eighteen years of the Heisei Era saw many changes in the bengoshi profession. Their population has substantially expanded. The largest commercial law firms have significantly expanded in size. Legal professional corporations emerged and increased in numbers. Some of them have attained considerable size. In-house bengoshi working in corporations have increased. In the midst of these changes, concerns were raised regarding the quality and ethics of the profession. From 2016, the Japanese government slowed down the expansion of the legal professional’s population. However, bengoshi are still unevenly distributed.

This paper will review and evaluate the reformed bengoshi system and discuss its outlook in the new Reiwa Era.