This course provides an image of Japanese society drawing upon its legal and non-legal rules and structures. The course will cover the history, structure, and socio-legal environment of Japanese law. It will investigate and challenge some of the assumptions about the place of law in Japanese society. Topics covered in the first part of the course on Japanese legal structure include its legal history, judicial system, legal education, and legal profession. Topics covered in the second part of the course on Japanese legal society include Japan’s views on litigation, foreigners, and minorities. Topics covered in the third part of the course will be selected with consultation of the class and may cover a variety of specific issues in Japanese society such as the Article 9 Peace Clause, environmental protection, the rise and fall of the Bubble Economy, claims for WWII compensation and reconciliation, and enforcement of criminal norms.

Tutorial attendance and participation (10%), Group presentation (20%), Paper – from group presentation (20%), Final paper or exam (50%). Alternatively, the students as a whole may elect to have a final exam in lieu of the long research paper (i.e., a short reflection essay would still be required). Graduate students attend joint classes with undergraduates but may expect more rigorous assessment and additional assignment work, tailored to the graduate students’ interests. Graduate students may expect a final assignment rather than an exam.

The course meets for three hours a week for 12 weeks.  Outside of the contact hours, two outside hours per contact hour for preparation and review would be common.

Permission of coordinator

Milhaupt et al, Japanese Law in Context (Harvard UP, 2001), which is presently being used at the graduate level at Harvard, Columbia, Michigan, and in most Japanese programs. Also, a supplemental course materials “brick” and sources available on the Internet will be used.


No knowledge of law or Japan assumed.

Delivery Mode:

On Campus