Program

The program consists of classes and field-trips. The first half of each class will be a lecture and the latter half will be a question-and-answer session proceeding in an interactive manner. In each class, a number of important contemporary issues are chosen for discussion. Basically, 2 classes are held every day: each class consists of a 3-hour lecture / question-and-answer session with a break.

As all the major legal institutions are located in Tokyo, field-trips will provide an excellent opportunity for participants to understand how law is practised in the Japanese society. We will visit the Japanese courts to observe how civil and criminal trials are conducted. Field-trips will also include visits to both domestic and foreign-based law firms, a legal department of a large company, a prison, and the National Diet.

Program Subjects

Civil Justice
This course introduces an overview of Japanese civil dispute resolution mechanisms including court proceedings and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Students will learn legal, social, and cultural aspects of Japanese civil justice though lecture and class discussion.

Competition Law
The Competition Law of Japan, introduced in 1947, regulates the business activities of corporations by prohibiting "unreasonable restraint of trade", "private monopolization", "unfair trade practices", "merger", and "stock holdings" etc. The goal of the law is to create "Social Market Economy" in Japanese economic society. This lecture will make clear the structure of the law through the comparative study of the competition laws in the USA, the EU and some other countries.

Constitutional Law
The Constitution of Japan: universal or inherent? The aim is to give a new perspective of Japanese society by learning the history and characteristics of Japanese constitutional law. In turn, this will help students understand how the system of government and Japanese society has been transformed by the adoption and alteration of the western liberal constitutional principles. In particular, the impact of external influences such as the US occupation after World War II and international human rights treaties are discussed.

Criminal Law
Japanese criminal law determines 'crime' in a highly theoretical way. The Penal Code is comprised of a list of basic elements of crimes, with several exemptions based on principles of legality and culpability. Criminal legal theory will be examined by reference to actual cases and examples.

Criminal Process
This lecture provides a general overview of the Japanese criminal justice process, from arrest to sentencing. Japanese criminal justice practice and procedure results from layers of different elements and students will learn how pre-war European Continental tradition did or did not change under the post-war American influence.

Family Law
The lecture is aimed to provide an outline of Japanese Family Law by illustrating some unique features of the laws concerning family matters in Japan including historical background of the 'old' family law, the structure of current law, and the family court system.

International Law
Unlike national law, international law is decentralized: no single legislature, judiciary, or executive. In most times, international law is implemented through domestic laws and institutions. However, methods of domestic implementation of international rules differ from country to country. This lecture examines how international rules are implemented in Japan.

The Judicial System
Japan received the western (especially German) legal system in the late nineteenth century. After WWII, Japanese law has been influenced by American law. The Japanese judicial system will be explained and analyzed from an historical and cultural perspective.

The Law of Enterprises
This topic concerns itself with many legal areas important for establishing, running and closing enterprises, e.g. companies, labour, finance, accounting, taxes, and transactions. In particular, the course will introduce the possible legal vehicles for enterprises and the legal structure for the work force, which is no longer characterized by the three well known principles of life long employment, seniority and enterprise labour unions.

The Legal Profession
The Japanese legal profession developed as a divided profession, which makes a sharp contrast with the American legal profession in significant aspects. This lecture gives an overview of the history and contemporary practice of the Japanese legal profession.

Tax Law & Accounting
This course introduces an overview of Japanese tax/accounting law including the basic rule of (personal) income/corporate/VAT taxation. Students will study how non-residents should be subject to tax in Japan, if they live and work in this country in the near future.

Field Trips
Major national institutions locate in Tokyo. We will visit the main legal institutions, such as the Supreme Court, the District Court, Ministry of Justice, large law firms, a legal department of a global corporation, and a prison. Students will learn how the law is actually practised through observation. We will also visit the Diet to see how legislation is made.

Course Schedule (Fixed)

1^st week

		9:00-12:00	13:30-16:30
21-Jul	Wed	Registration & Orientation Judicial System	Law of Enterprise (1)
22-Jul	Thu	Civil Justice	Constitutional Law
23-Jul	Fri	Legal Profession	Visit to Supreme Court
* Welcome party in the evening, July 21.

2^nd week

		9:00-12:00	13:30-16:30
26-Jul	Mon	Visit to Summary court	Visit to District court, Visit to Law Firm
27-Jul	Tue	Tax Law	Criminal Law
28-Jul	Wed	Administrative Law	Competition Law
29-Jul	Thu	Criminal Process	Visit to Yokohama prison
30-Jul	Fri	Visit to Diet	Visit to National Personnel Authority，Visit to Law Firms

3^rd week

		9:00-12:00	13:30-16:30
2-Aug	Mon	Law of Enterprise(2)	Family Law
3-Aug	Tue	International Law	Visit to Japan Federation of Bar Associations
* Farewell party in the evening, August 3. * Meiji University reserves the right to cancel or change the program at anytime without notice.

Please see a pdf file.