Going to Court to Change Japan takes us inside movements dealing with causes as disparate as death by overwork, the rights of the deaf, access to prisoners on death row, consumer product safety, workers whose companies go bankrupt, and persons convicted of crimes they did not commit. Each of the six fascinating case studies stands on its own as a detailed account of how a social movement has persisted against heavy odds to pursue a cause through the use of the courts. The studies pay particular attention to the relationship between the social movement and the lawyers who handle their cases, usually pro bono or for minimal fees. Through these case studies we learn much about how the law operates in Japan as well as how social movements mobilize and innovate to pursue their goals using legal channels. The book also provides a general introduction to the Japanese legal system and a look at how recent legal reforms are working. Going to Court to Change Japan will interest social scientists, lawyers, and anyone interested in the inner workings of contemporary Japan. It is suitable for use in a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses on Japan in social sciences and law, and can also provide a comparative perspective to general courses in these fields. Contributors include John H. Davis Jr., Daniel H. Foote, Patricia L. Maclachlan, Karen Nakamura, Scott North, Patricia G. Steinhoff, and Christena Turner.

Examines the relationship between social movements and the law in bringing about social change in Japan

How has Japan managed to become one of the most important economic actors in the world, without the corresponding legal infrastructure usually associated with complex economic activities? The Changing Role of Law in Japan offers a comparative perspecti

With effective solutions in both criminal and civil disputes at a premium, reformers have advanced varied forms of jury systems as a means of fostering positive political, economic, and social change. Many countries have recently integrated lay partici

Japanese society is as legalistic and rulebound as that of the US, yet Japanese people file far fewer lawsuits than Americans. Explanations for this behavior range from circular arguments about Japanese culture to suggestions that the Japanese court system is so slow-moving and unfriendly to plaintiffs that everyone knows better than to engage in it. However, there is much more to civil litigation in Japan, as preeminent scholar of Japanese law J. Mark Ramseyer explains in "Doing Well by Making Do: Second-Best Judging in Japanese Law." With illustrations drawn from tort claims across many domains--auto accidents, product liability, medical malpractice, landlord-tenant law, and more--Ramseyer shows that the low rate of lawsuits in Japan is compelled not by distrust of a dysfunctional system, but by a system that sorts and resolves disputes in such an overwhelmingly predictable pattern that only rarely do contesting parties find it worthwhile to involve themselves in the uncertainty of a trial. Japanese judges do not pretend to offer the level of particularized inquiry that one expects in American courts. The Japanese court system is not designed to find perfect justice. It is designed to "make do." Through close attention to key arenas of tort litigation, as well as more obscure corners of the law including labor, landlord-tenant, and consumer-finance disputes, "Doing Well by Making Do" offers a key to unlocking the aims, incentives, flaws, and virtues of the distinctive Japanese court system.