Takeo Miki, who assumed the position of prime minister in 1974, is one of the primary statesman in postwar Japan. He won his seat at the 20th general election in 1937, and was subsequently voted into office 19 times in a row. The purpose of this thesis is to classify the activities of Miki in the period of his school days at Meiji University after which I consider the significance of his student days. From the analysis, I can point out the following significant points. Firstly, Miki developed an interest in real politics. He decided that he would run in a general election in the future. Secondly, Miki was aware of the importance of what can be obtained from travel. Because of that, he developed international sensibilities and an interest in international affairs. Thirdly, Miki met Shintaro Fukushima and Kazushige Hirasawa, who both played important roles as Miki’s mentors at a later date. Fourthly, Miki came to recognize the importance of the mass media. It was essential for Miki to have entered Meiji University in order to become a member of the House of Representatives.

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The purpose of this research is to re-examine the views of Hitoshi Ashida, one of the prominent figures among Japanese liberalists in opposition parties during the early 1950s, on communist movements. On the issue of domestic policy, Ashida had a critical view on totalitarianism through his career as social-liberal intellectual and politician. Firstly, he declared caution concerning the Japanese Communist Party, which he described as seeking to establish a totalitarian regime in Japan. Secondly, while he tried not to be merely a hard-liner and to introduce his socialized economic policy, he tried to draw a line between communism and his social liberalism. However, he was also very pessimistic about the popularity of liberalism among Japanese people. And his position was becoming marginalized in this era of conflict between so called conservatives and progressives. On the issue of foreign policy, Ashida took a cautious view on the Soviet’s aggression in the Cold war through his active research on Russian diplomacy. Firstly, he accused the Japanese Communist Party of seeking to make Japan a satellite state of the Soviet Union. Secondly, while he tried not to be merely a hard-liner, continuing to think about the possibility of détente and retaining his love to Russian culture, he was cautious about any economic and cultural exchanges between Japan and communist states. However, he remained so pessimistic about the future of Japanese people who he viewed would tolerate communist countries. And his position was gradually opposed, even from the politicians within his own party. He also felt frustration about his social activities, which he saw didn’t attract interest in society and intellectual community, despite perceiving himself as specialist on Russian issues. Through this research, we can see how Ashida was in constant risk of becoming marginalized due to his active but hawkish position.

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Mass torts emerge when an event or series of related events injure a large number of people. If we aim for the deterrence of a recurrence of mass torts, punitive damages are surely effective for this purpose. This article analyzes the large-scale nature of mass torts and includes consideration of their ability to become a direct basis of punitive damages. The legal basis of punitive damages has been questioned in each US state due to the torts reform movement. However, torts still continue today, without denying punitive damages in the United States. Currently, the focus is turned to the determination of a concrete application scenario, i.e., claimable amount. The Due Process Clause of Constitution of the United States restricts the amount of punitive damages and determines the use of a multiplier. The United States Supreme Court has not decided upon the issue of the multiplier yet. However, it seems that restricting punitive damages will continue in a future.

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With the Taiwanese devoting their efforts to a political movement against Japanese rule from the late 1910's to 1930's, the government general of Taiwan (Taiwan Soutokufu) took several measures against Taiwanese active in Tokyo, Taiwan, and China. Current literature on those movements lacks first-handed historical records. This article, with reference to the Taiwan Soutokufu Archives, attempts to explore the intelligence network which was developed to collect information about the Taiwanese. Firstly, the author examines the formation of the intelligence network in Tokyo, paying specific attention to the Taiwanese students studying at Tokyo, employees sent from Soutokufu, and the partnership between Soutokufu and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Secondly, the author uncovers the formation of an intelligence network in Shanghai and southern China, an area where thousands of Taiwanese resided, paying specific attention to the Taiwanese hired locally, employees sent from Soutokufu, and the partnership between Soutokufu and the consulate in China. I conclude by suggesting that the intelligence network served an important role in terms of gathering information on Taiwanese overseas. I will present another paper on the intelligence network inside the island of Taiwan in due course.

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Flat-rate overtime pay is a hotbed of problems as it consists of putting in long hours with little pay. The trouble arising from flat-rate overtime pay is increasing yearly. Recently, there have been a few precedents of court cases surrounding the flat-rate overtime payments to people working in excess of the monthly time limit of 45 hours. To be effective flat-rate overtime payments require the agreement of both labor and management. In connection to this, this paper has been written based on Justice Sakurai of the Supreme Court’s supporting opinion in the Tec Japan case.

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This paper focuses on the role of political satires in the modern information society. The information society sometimes makes communication biased and alienates certain people from the information required for democracy. Satire is capable of providing a multifaceted, ―multidimensional perspective. Satirical cartoons offer different aspects of an issue ―and make readers laugh at politicians, political events and even themselves. In my analysis, I rely considerably on the framing approach. This approach is derived from many aspects of schools. I used the political symbolism approach of Murray Edelman, to analyze political discourse. For the purpose of investigating the role of political satires ,in particular this paper describes and categorizes the nature and the content of editorial cartoons and senryu (short poems) in the Asahi Shimbun from October 1, 2015 to August 3, 2016. In the content analysis this paper uses the “frame,“package” and“elements of signature ”of Gamson(1992). In conclusion there seems to be little difference between political cartoons and senryus during the time considered, but politicians are more slightly more ridiculed in senryus.

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On May 26, 2015, Act on Special Measures concerning Promotion of Empty Dwellings Countermeasures (Act No. 127 of November 27, 2014) was completely come into operation. According to the results of an investigation by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in 2013, the number of empty dwellings is over 8.2 million. In cases where the owners cannot manage the dwellings sufficiently, they either have to be made useful or the necessary steps taken. Through the analysis of the new act, I will verify some phenomena to ensure the practical effectiveness of administration. In this thesis, I am paying especial attention to the management by local public entities, and the relationship between the new Act and ordinances.

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This paper analyzes the decision of the federal court of Canada in Zunera Ishaq v. Canada (The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) 2015 FC 156. In this decision, the federal court considered the duty of citizenship candidates to remove their niqab (a veil worn by Muslim women) when they were taking the oath. Ishaq’s case includes important matters for multiculturalism, such as acceptance of religious minority’s practice. It also presents the serious problem of immigration laws about naturalization and their government practice. Therefore, examining the decision is useful to understand more deeply the immigrant nation Canada where multiculturalism is national policy. At first, I introduce the process of naturalization in Canada. Next, I examine the decision in detail, and show the movement of the political section around this decision. Then, I discuss the constitutional issues therein. Specifically, they are the relations between wearing the niqab and the scope of the protection of freedom of religion by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, between “reasonable accommodation” and religious freedom, and between the wearing of a religious symbol in public places and the freedom of religion. I also mention the precedents of the Supreme Court about wearing the niqab. Through the discussion above, this paper reveals the recent trends in the immigration laws of Canada although it is limited to the matters of naturalization.

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The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (hereinafter UNCLOS) established new marine areas including coastal jurisdiction areas with EEZ and Continental Shelf and the deep seabed area. The International Seabed Authority (hereinafter ISA) established for the control of the deep seabed adopted three regulations concerning prospecting and exploration of mineral resources under the legal framework of UNCLOS Part XI and its implementing Agreement. They are Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration for Polymetallic Nodules in the Area (2000), Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration for Polymetallic Sulphides in the Area (2010) and Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration for Cobalt-Rich Crusts (2012). The three Regulations commonly provide for the protection and preservation of the marine environment. Considering environmental references in these Regulations and Advisory Opinion of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (2011), the criteria for prospecting and exploration of mineral resources seems to be clear. This paper will list national laws which seem to be coordinated with environmental regulations mentioned above. The principal laws are the Mining Act and Mine Safety Act; however, other relevant laws to be revised in prospecting and exploration of mineral resources will be also discussed. Moreover, some provisions in the Mining Code with regard to underwater cultural heritage incidentally found in the process of prospecting and exploration of seabed mineral resources will be examined. Suggestions shall also be made as to how the Act on Protection of Cultural Properties should be revised in the context of international environmental rules.

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This paper analyzes school teachers and boards of education from the viewpoint of street-level bureaucrat studies, and considers the influence of public ombudsman upon these bureaucrats. The second chapter surveys the public ombudsman system and presents the analytical framework that connects public ombudsman and street-level bureaucrats, with an overview of the result of case studies serving as precedents. The third chapter takes up the facts of the murder case of a junior high school student in Kawasaki City in 2015, judicial judgments, and the corresponding measures taken by the City authorities. The fourth chapter analyzes the fact that public ombudsman could not function in this bullying problem and adds a complimentary consideration of street-level bureaucrat studies. In addition, it compiles an analysis and discussion about the measures taken against bullying using the current system and recommends some methods for restructuring the public ombudsman system. In its conclusion, this paper suggests that public ombudsman can control administrative authorities and cultivate the ability of school teachers through support for them. Moreover, the importance of the public ombudsman in optimizing the attitude of school teachers and competent departments is clarified, and some pointers for future research suggested.

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Overview After 1956, when Minamata disease was officially acknowledged, interdisciplinary research was developed that included epidemiology, sociology, ethnology, and social welfare. However, longitudinally and cross-sectionally qualitative research into how the lives of Minamata disease victims have been damaged by pollution remains scarce. Furthermore, qualitative research that has explored social stratum movements of Minamata disease victims has thus far yet to be undertaken, and the actual situation is unclear. Against this background, the present study has sought to elucidate social stratum movements of fishery households through an exploratory approach, and investigates how they have overcome having their lives destroyed, and how they have escaped from a state of worsening poverty. The study also examines how legislation and policy have contributed to the lives of Minamata disease victims.

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Justice Antonin Scalia passed away on February 13, 2016. He described himself as both an originalist and a textualist. His originalism based on the contextualism belongs to the new originalism in the point of that it regard the constitutional language as the original meaning, but his originalism differs from the new originalism in the point of that it does not admit the distinction between constitutional interpretation and constitutional construction. His originalism embraces the textualism as far as it puts a weight the meaning of language. Furthermore, he practiced his methodology in the cases relating to the government institutions (separation of powers, federalism) and the individual rights. Thanks to his effort in the theory and practice of originalism, he succeeded in restoring the contextualism and originalism. It can be a legacy of Justice Scalia. Besides that, his originalism can be seen as a tool that realizes “the idea of founding.”

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Japan's super-aged society with elderly people over 65 years of age accounting for 20-21% of the total population has emerged in recent years. And there has been a downward trend in the birth rate at the same time. Previously, the family assumed a large role in bringing up children, caring for elderly people, managing elderly people's property, etc. However these family roles don't work well anymore, because elderly people gradually lose their ability to recognize the meaning of their judgment and to engage in labor, etc. The purpose of this symposium was to consider the Decline of Family Functions in the Super-aged Society in Japan. For this purpose, five panelists (Mariko Hirose, Nobumi Yamanaka, Hiroyuki Kanemitsu, Natsuhiko Yoshida and Takahisa Urushibata) analyzed the social and legal policies from the viewpoints of social security, maternity nursing, management of elderly people's property, business succession about the small and medium-sized enterprise and crime prevention, and so on. This symposium was held as part of the 124th academic conference of the Japanese Association of Law and Political Science at the College of Law, Nihon University on June 18, 2016.

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This article examines the influence of declining family functions on the long-term care policy for the elderly in the super-aged Japanese society including a comparison with the case in the Netherlands. The reduction of family size and increasing independent life-style of the elderly, who have traditionally been cared for by their families, has made it difficult for them to rely on family members to provide care at home. Consequently, social security and social welfare reform has been implemented since the 1990s, and the public long-term care insurance scheme was finally established in 2000 which aimed at socialisation of elderly care. However, the public opinion poll held by the Cabinet Office every year suggests that anxiety is high among the respondents for their future lives, and this indicates the need for welfare policy concerned with elderly living. Moreover, the recent reform of the long-term care insurance scheme encourages the elderly to be self-reliant and use private capabilities based on ‘community’. What is interesting is that this trend can be found not only in Japan, but also in the Netherlands where the advanced welfare state has highly developed professional long-term care services for the elderly. In other words, it is a reform that has expanded municipal discretion in the Netherlands based on the ‘Social Support Act’. Furthermore, in the background to this, there is a ‘participatory society’, a key word in the transformation of the Dutch welfare state, which has been underway while reassessing family care. In the recent reform policies of the two countries aiming for fiscal restraint and efficiency, we find a minimum social security perspective of Anglo-Saxon type of policy there. However, rather than accepting such a reduction reform immediately in each country, we should first more carefully analyse elderly care policies in the two countries through comparative research work, and learn from each other to resolve any future anxiety of the residents.

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Looked at worldwide, Japan is a nation of falling birthrates and an aging population, where the women's childbearing age is increasing. The rise of the childbearing age will cause a variety of problems. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) is has introduced a comprehensive childbirth support program that provides seamless support from childbirth up to child rearing. The postnatal period is a time in which the mother’s physical and mental state is most liable to disorders and can be described as the time when they need the most support. The support after childbirth secures a support system from immediately after discharge from hospital, and of the help available it is the postnatal care facilities that have attracted much attention. Mothers can stay at these facilities that do not impinge on medical law, and receive parental skills training and physical and mental rest. These facilities also prevent the isolation of mother and child. Most of the care is provided by midwives, but people form many backgrounds cooperate. The high cost of using these facilities and the increasing number of people who wish to use them are becoming issues, and hopefully the costs will be cut, the facilities become more widely known, and their number increased, as there is a need for an increase in cheap day care.

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An adult guardianship system is the system that started newly by April, 2000. Conventionally, the civil law established the rule of a person adjudged incompetent, the quasi-incompetent in basic rule as a system of the protection of the property of the person that ability for judgment was insufficient for mental disorders. When a sentence was accomplished once because this system limited legal capacity uniformly, a sentence was listed in a family register after the social life of the person became remarkably inconvenient, and the use of the system has been given a wide berth by there having been the thing which felt that I brought dishonor to a family from the name. Not only it but also the thing that a judgment expense (a judgment expense was said to be 700,000 yen from 300,000 yen in the old incompetency system) and the time when it was large in a statement for sentence suffered from was done with one factor that use of system did not advance to, and there was extremely little number of use of this system. However, aging began to be outstanding year by year, and, in one, a dementia (dementia) elderly person increased our society, and the ratio of the person who could not manage it by oneself while having assets became higher surely. Generally, young old, 75 years old or more say old-old under 75 years old 65 years old or older. The Japanese elderly person has already surpassed 32 million people. The expression called incompetency, quasi-incompetence, the act inability, the incapable person was changed, and mention to the family register that was a big hindrance for the use, the official daily gazette notification would be abolished, and an adult guardianship registration system was made with the civil law revision newly.

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The following issues are discussed in this paper: (1) current problems which small and medium-sized enterprises in Japan face; and (2) a critical review of the Act on Facilitation of Succession of Management of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises.

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This paper seeks to consider the measures for the re-construction of communities in Japan at a time of an aging society with fewer children, through crime-prevention by the rehabilitation of offenders. For this purpose, Job Assistance for offenders is raised in this paper. This is derived from the view that working has an important meaning, enabling people to participate positively in the community. In this paper, it is pointed out that the prevention of re-offending has become an important task in criminal policy, in the light of recent crime trends, and that Job Assistance has an important meaning as a measure for relapse-prevention and the offenders' re-socialization. The paper continues, on the assumption that Job Assistance is important for the rehabilitation of offenders, by pointing out that working has a social meaning for positive participation in the community by people with criminal convictions. Furthermore, the recent trend of the practice of Job Assistance is reviewed, its benefits for society are illustrated, and the future of Job Assistance as a tool for the re-construction of communities is examined through a consideration of its significance to social enterprises.

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