As environmental problems transcend national boundaries, they come to be a feature of international politics. In this context, Global Environmental Governance, which means the intersection of global governance with environmental affairs, is an impotant approach to solving global environmental problems. This paper examines the transformation of global environmental governance. Based on global governance theory as an analytical framework, it pays attention to following two points. First, the importance of global environmental governance in contemporary world society is examined. To analyse this point, this paper outlines the norm in the United Nations System. Second, the transformation of the global environmental governance system which responded to globalizing world society has been considered. Activities of the United Nations Environmental Programme(UNEP) is a case study for this point. Through this examination, this paper would try to understand more integrative approaches to global environmental politics.

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Today it seems to be natural to provide criminal regulations to guarantee the effectiveness of various environmental laws. In reality, the roles played by the punishments in protection of the environment seems to be insignificant and it is no exaggeration to say there is no application of punishments to actual cases of protecting environment as far as we compare them with the criminal cases in general. Fundamentally, the penalty regulations do not function not only as sanctions against invasion of environment but also are expected to function to form people's awareness of so-to-speak standards in order to teach them the importance of new legal profit, which is environment. But we must not forget that it does great harm to place great expectation on such a function as to form people's awareness of standards. It is not only meaningless, but is also accompanying great harm. Furthermore, the conventionally expected preventive and active roles have come to end, when we reflect on the ineffectiveness and passiveness of its functions in protection of the environment that environmental laws essentially have. Rather it is no exaggeration to say that it is now the time to reconsider and to form the theory based on a new philosophy. And a new theory of environmental laws should be constructed based on the framework of economic rule under the precondition that the role of assisting environmental regulations. 1. Introduction 2. Environmental protection and punishments use of administrative punishments and how they should be economic technique and how penal regulations should be 3. Conclusion

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Tokutomi Soho (1863-1957) is one of the most popular and influential journalists in modern Japan. This paper aims to investigate how Soho expressed his views of America from the 1870s to the 1950s. Although a large number of researchers have examined and investigated Soho's writings, little is known about his response to America in his life. 1. His early life and America In his youth, Soho had mixed feelings toward America. He thanked the American Board for the contribution to the Doshisha English School. At the same time, he unleashed his wrath upon Commodore Perry's gunboat diplomacy. 2. Japan-US Alliance I As a journalist, Soho asserted that Japan should have allied with the US and Britain. His purpose was to contain Russian expansion in the Far East cooperating with the Anglo-American sea powers. 3. After the Russo-Japanese War Confronting the Anti-Japanese Movement in California, Soho tried to reestablish former friendly relations between Japan and the US. However, he was obliged to break down owing to the Anti-Japanese Land Law of 1913. 4. Going to the Pacific War From the Peace Conference in Paris to the latter period of the 1930s, Soho had increasingly become anti-American. The Attack on Pearl Harbor and the success of the Japanese forces in the early stage of the war delighted him remarkably. 5. Japan-US Alliance II After Japan was defeated, Soho advocated the Japan-US Alliance again. His purpose was to contain the Soviet Union's expansion in close cooperation with America. His concept was just the same as the one he had shown in the 1890s.

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The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage will enter into force on 2nd January 2009 (It shall enter into force three months after the date of the deposit of the 20th instrument in accordance with Article 26). On the other hand, the Agreement Concerning the Shipwrecked Vessel RMS Titanic adopted by America, France, England and Canada is also likely to enter into force within a couple of years. To regulate shipwrecks in waters outside territorial waters, maritime law (especially salvage law and finds law) has been applied for a long time. Particularly in waters quite distant from coastal states, because of undeveloped marine technology, the need of regulating wrecks was not taken into consideration as an actual problem. A series of discussions in the first United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (1958) showed us this. In fact, at the stage of drafting "Convention on the Continental Shelf," the legal coastal regulation had nothing to do with regulating wreckages. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea article 303(2) provides that the coastal States may prohibit the removal of objects of an archaeological and historical nature from the sea-bed in their contiguous zone. Therefore, wrecks in the waters outside the contiguous zone remained to be unregulated. We call the waters "International Waters." In this International Waters, only a few states which are equipped with advanced maritime technology and salvage methods have applied maritime laws to grant rewards to salvors. Acknowledging this way of thinking, only extremely limited number of states would create international norms on regulating shipwrecks in international waters. The historical importance of shipwrecks has often been undermined by some salvors' dynamiting them in pursuit of financial profit. In this situation, European States started making their own norms since the late 1970's, feeling much stress on discussing vague articles about regulating wrecks in the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III). This European action eventually led to adopting of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001) under UNESCO. This Convention defines submerged objects or objects of an archaeological and historical nature as underwater cultural heritage. Moreover, coastal states are entitled by the Convention to take civil and penal sanctions against any possible infringement. Considering aforementioned tendency, this paper argues the effectiveness of international norms focusing particularly on a bilateral and regional treaties. Specifically, the details of three treaties will be examined: first, The Agreement between Australia and the Netherlands Concerning Old Dutch Shipwrecks (1972); secondly, the Agreement between the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden regarding the M/S Estonia (1995); and finally, the Agreement Concerning the Shipwrecked Vessel RMS Titanic, 5 January 2000. The 1972 Agreement set up the method of dividing rights and cost so that shipwreck artifacts may be distributed with less problem. When the Agreement between the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden regarding the M/S Estonia (1995) was concluded after the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea entered into force, it addressed the regulation regarding the continental shelf as a sea-bed of high seas as far as shipwrecks were concerned, without prejudice to the sovereign rights framework. Moreover, by examining the development in the discovery of the Titanic and its subsequent international legal making process, how European oriented norms had been absorbed will be discussed. Finally, the significance of forming international norms by bilateral and regional treaties in light of international legal effectiveness will be emphasized.

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The purpose of this paper is to consider the legal policies regarding grandparents in Japan. To this end, we have analysed two things; the legal structures of grandparent-grandchild contact in Japan and in Canada, and the public support systems for grandparents who care for grandchildren while their parents are working in Japan, the UK, Singapore and Australia. What I wish to show in this paper are two things. First, it is necessary to consider the enactment of the legal procedure for grandparent-grandchild contact in Japan. Second, it is necessary to introduce some support systems (e.g. financial support) for grandparents as child caregivers in Japan. This paper summarizes the presentation made at the convention of the Japan Association of Legal and Political Sciences at Kinki University in June, 2008.

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In Japan, alimony has many problems of rationale, determination of providing award and amount. Thus it is proposed that the concepts of the compensatory award should be replaced by the concept of alimony. But there are some concepts of compensatory awards proposed, for recharacterization of alimony we should determine singly only the concept of compensatory payment. In America, The American Law Institute proposes the concept of alimony replacing the concept of the compensatory awards in "Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution: Analysis and Recommendation". For recharacterization of alimony in Japan, this article will look at the concept of the compensatory awards in "Principles of the Law of Family Disso lution".

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Art. 81 Japanische Verfassung bestimmt die Befugnis, "Der Oberste Gerichtshof ist das Gericht letzter Instanz, das die Befugnis daruber zu entscheiden hat, ob die einzelnen Gesetz, Verordnung, Vorschriften, und Ve rfu-gungen mit der Verfassung in Ubereinstimmung stehen oder nicht." Und Artikel 76, Absatz 1, bestimmt "Die Justizgewalt liegt samt und sonders beim Obersten Gerichtshof und den nach Massgabe des Gesetzes eingerichteten Unteren Gerichtshofen." Damit ist ausgelegt worden, dass auch Unteregericht die Befugnis hat, die Verfassungswirdrigkeit der Verwaltungsakte etc. zu entscheiden. Weil der Oberste Gerichtshof die letzte Instanz ist, wird der Oberste Gerichtshof nach dem Volkmund "der Huter der Verfassung" genannt. Folglich ist es kein Wunder, dass unter den Entscheidungen des Unteren Gerichta gibt es Urteil, die den Prayedenzien des Oberste Gerichtshofes widersprechen. Hiermit mochte ich als ein Beispiel solches Urteile, ein Urteil eines Fukuoka Landesgerichts anzugeben und es kommentieren. In diesem Gericht wurde der Fall uber den Schreinbesuchedes ehemaligen Ministerprasidenten "Koizumi" verhandelt und um die Verfassungswirdrigkeit dieser Akte gestritten, weil Artikel 20 Absatz 3 bes timmt, "Der Staat und seine Organe haben sich der religiosen Erziehung und jeder anderen Art religioser Betatigung zu enthalten." Dauber hat das Fukuoka Landesgericht den Schreinbesuch von Koiyumi verfassungswidrig erklart und die Anklage des Anklage des Anklager abgewiesen. Ich mochte bei dieser gelegenheit dieses Urteil aufnehmen und es kommentieren.

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify the different views in Rawls's The Law of Peoples from Kant's Perpetual Peace. The reason why I write this paper is that Rawls says The Law of Peoples depends on Kant's Perpetual Peace and he himself doesn't indicate the different points. First, by comparing the international law with the law of peoples, I demonstrate that there are different points as to the theoretical construction between them. Secondly, I indicate that there is a different stance as to self-defense of war between them. Thirdly, I maintain that the political that Rawls thinks of is different from the political that Kant states. Fourthly, I emphasize that the relation the international law supposes is different from the relation the law of peoples supposes.

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