In this paper, I confirmed the meaning of the social movements in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau from the perspectives and by the methods of the Constitutional Studies.

First, the concept of “sovereignty” has various meanings. Usually, sovereignty is used as (1) absoluteness of the state power, (2) ultimate decision-making authority of national policies, and (3) the ruling power of the state. While the external part of sovereignty, the absoluteness of the state, was focused in “Sunflower Movement” (Taiwan), the internal part of sovereignty, the ultimate decision-making power, was focused in “Umbrella Movement” (Hong Kong). However, in the “anti-hefty retirement benefits for high-rank government officials’ movement” (Macau) did not involve sovereignty issues in the first place.

Second, Bruce Ackerman proposed the “Dualist Democracy” theory, and distinguished the political processes between “Normal Politics” and “Constitutional Politics”. Because of the Cold War in East Asia and the “rising China” as super power, Taiwan and Hong Kong are still carrying on their “Constitutional Politics”.

Third, it is said that the “narrative” of the constitution is important in order to confirm and inherit the identity of the nation and the ethnic groups. None of “Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region”, “Basic Law of the Macau Special Administrative Region”, and “The Constitution of the Republic of China” carries a functional narrative in this regard.

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The Annual Meeting of Legal Philosophy 2005 was held in NAGOYA on November12-13, 2005, under the auspice of Japan Association of Legal Philosophy (JALP).
Its general theme was “The Rule of Law in Contemporary Japanese Society-Ideal, Reality and Perspective”. In Japan, “the rule of law” has been emphasized as a basic ideal for the recent judicial reform. In this meeting, the various problems about the ideals, tasks and realities etc. of the rule of law (or Rechtsstaat) in contemporary Japanese society were discussed from the viewpoints of legal philosophy and public law. Six legal philosophers and three public law scholars gave reports and discussed these problems.

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本報告は,日本マスコミュニケーション学会2007年度春季総会・研究発表会(2007年6月10日)におけるシンポジウム「『メディア法』はどこへゆくのか-メディア法研究者の認識」において,筆者が行った報告内容を原稿化したものである。筆者に与えられたテーマは,メディア法が取り囲まれている環境変化について,憲法を専攻するメディア法研究者の立場から報告せよということであった。同日,登壇された大石泰彦報告,鈴木秀美報告も筆者と同じく憲法を専攻するメディア法研究者であるため,重なる部分もあるが,本報告では,学問複合体であるメディア法(特にマスメディア法)の中でも相当な関与を果たしてきた憲法学の観点から,特に近時の新しい憲法「理論」の動向を補助線に,メディア法の近未来を展望してみたい。

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In this paper, on the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, I reexamined the connection and disconnection between the modern constitutionalism in western Europe and the Chinese constitution (thought and system). The constitutional review was employed as the focal point in this discussion.

First, the constitutional review has two meanings: the protection of human rights and the protection of constitutional order. The constitutional review is one of the crucial elements of constitutionalism. Its system and operation are a measure of realization and retention of the constitutionalism.

Second, the Chinese constitution enacted in 1982 was based on the bitter experiences of the Cultural Revolution. In order to protect human rights and constitutional order, various discussions were held to decide what kind of constitutional review system was to be established. Furthermore, the Chinese government and CCP rejected the judicial review and chose their own version of constitutional review that is carried out by the People’s Congress.

Finally, there is a gulf between the modern constitutionalism in western Europe and the Chinese constitution. The Chinese constitution imposes the duty of upholding and abiding by the constitution not only to the government but also to its citizens. At the same time, it is reluctant to ensure the relativity of individuals’ values. At the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, the Chinese government and CCP criticized the students and intellectuals for joining the protest and openly violating the constitution. This accusation symbolizes the gap between the modern constitutionalism in western Europe and the Chinese constitution.

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Libertarianism is not so popular among the constitutional lawyers in Japan. There are some reasons for that situation, but one of the most important reasons is that Japanese Constitution is, both in content and in its historical background, not suitable for the ideology of libertarianism. So under the constitution like that, libertarianism could hardly prevail, and there is no need for constitutional lawyers to take it seriously.
But this story is too simple. If libertarianism is not the vindication of “laissez-faire” capitalism, but the diehard claim for liberty of private life of individuals, then constitutional lawyers should not make light of the critical stance of libertarians to the paternalistic regulation of the government. Especially in Japan, constitutional theory of “double standard dependent on the aim of regulation” allows the government very wide range of paternalistic regulation on economic freedom. Japanese constitutional lawyers could learn much from the libertarian criticism of that theory.
But the problem of libertarian criticism is that they don't pay due attention to democracy. So taking libertarianism more seriously, we, Japanese constitutional lawyers, should come to think much about democracy, and I think it's good for us.

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“The Rule of law” has been used in different meanigs. But this is a legal and political ideal or principle, and there are three kinds of the rule of law. First is the rule of law in the modern constitutional laws of Western countries. Second is the rule of law in Japanese constitutional law, and third is the rule of law as a political ideal. Third one relates to what a good government or legal system should be.
At first, the history and development of the rule of law in modern constitutional laws of Western countries is considered. Next, the legal scholars' different views on the rule of law in Japanese constitutional law are examined.
Finally, formal conceptions and substantive conceptions about the rule of law as a political ideal are discussed. One of formal conceptions is formal legality, which was maintained by Lon L. Fuller, J.Raz and R.S.Summers etc. This is important for other kinds of the rule of law as well. On the other hand, substantive conceptions maintain the rule of just or good laws. But there is much controversies about what just or good laws are. Other several problems about the rule of law are also discussed.

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　Dennis Mueller insists that if four conditions ― negative externality, decision-making cost, enormous burdens inflicted by laws on people, and uncertainty in the constitutional stage ― are met, constitutional rights will be made. However, this theory does not apply to social rights, even if it applies to civil liberties. So, this paper considers the mechanism by which social rights are made, referring to Muellers theory. In discussing social rights, it is necessary to examine three problems. First, what is the mechanism by which other constitutional rights are limited? Second, how will the immunity from the laws, which inflict considerable burdens on the weak, be given for them? Third, how will the majority of people be induced to enact the laws which deprive themselves of their property? The key to tackling these problems lies in the choice of people in the constitutional stage who can guess somehow the probability of being the weak in the future. Derivation of social rights could be explained by analyzing their choice.

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Through a Cabinet decision taken on July 1, 2014, the Abe administration reinterpreted Article 9 of Japanʼs 1946 Constitution. The new interpretation allows Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense, which is something that postwar governments over the past 60 years have construed as prohibiting. This is not to say that the traditional interpretation was constitutional, because Article 9 prohibits not only use of armed forces for collective defense but also for individual self-defense. A 2014Cabinet decision violated the rule of law under the constitution even more flagrantly.

The pacifism of the Constitution is prescribed in both Article 9 and the Preamble. Article 9 renounces all forms of war, prohibits the maintenance of any significant military capability, and denies Japan the right of belligerency. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that there are still two reasons for the pacifism of Japanese constitution.

One is that the Article 9 provides for the victims of historical Japanese aggression and colonial rule by preventing Japan from venturing out to disturb international peace again. Post- war Japanese governments, however, have not yet taken fully responsibility for this past. For example, Japanese politicians still visit Yasukuni Shurine.

The other reason is that Article 9, together with the Preamble, which states, “We recognize that all peoples of the world have the right to live in peace, free from fear and want.” says that there are no “just wars” from the peopleʼs point of view. Such an idea was incorporated into the Constitution because of the “horrors of war” ( Preamble) the Japanese people themselves experienced as both aggressors and victims during World War II. The Article 9 has been rated highly among grass-roots movements for peace around the world, e.g. The 1999 Hague Agenda for Peace and Justice for the 21st Century to Abolish War.

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This article focuses on the question why it is important to study the free speech in cyberspace for the future of the Constitutional Law. The author insists that this topic give lawyers, judges and scholars the opportunity for asking why free speech is protected in the Constitutional Law. Why does society need free speech? This is a complicated question. The Constitutional Law scholars in the United States have already started to research this field. With their help, the author challenged that free speech in cyberspace should not be the "Law of the Horse". The Most important question is why the free speech is in the Constitutional Law.

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The purpose of this paper is to think about school management research from the point of view of contemporary issues of educational administration research. This paper says that first, under the greatly changing environment over educational administration, the educational policy research becomes important as the method of the educational administration research, and second, there is some expectation that the necessity of the policy research in school management research increases from the contemporary issues of educational policy research. Though the educational administration research covers the three areas of policy, the law-institution, and management, the law-institution research was a center in a current research, and the policy research was insufficient. The reason is that theories of liberal democracy that value a political discussion under a minimum legal rule and controls the administration (bureaucrat) have influenced the educational administration research. One of the theories of liberal democracy is "model of law/politics". However, the transformation of a liberal democracy and the administrative reform by the political initiative requires a new way of a political discussion, and more transparent and fairer political discussion necessitates a policy research. Considering that the school reform with increasing participants under the decentralization of the educational administration made the process of school management more political, policy research becomes important in the school management research.

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The Constitution of Japan, which was made in occupied Japan in 1946, has no provisions for emergency powers. A number of constitutional lawyers have argued about the intention of the absence or luck of them since around 1956. Many of them appreciate the absence or luck of emergency power clauses positively and share the recognition that emergency power provisions in the constitution is naturally incompatible with the constitutionalism. On the other hand, in the arena of practical politics, it has been considered indispensable to the state to have legislation enabling the government to take emergency measures at the time of crisis since Japan restored its sovereignty and independence in 1952. But some laws relating to a state of emergency or crisis have been criticized unconstitutional by many constitutional lawyers. In 2012, Japanese ruling party LDP published the draft of an amendment to Constitution of Japan including the provisions for emergency powers. Coming up this draft, it is no more fruitful to argue why the Constitution has not provisions for emergency powers and researching its meaning. A new stage is coming to a discussion of an emergency power. Now it must be considered how the emergency powers should be provided in the coming revised Constitution of Japan. This article examines that how an emergency power has been discussed in Japan and proposes the necessity of introducing it into the Constitution.

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小泉政権の成立以来,首相公選制が注目を集めてきた。直接公選を通じた強いリーダーシップを求める声の背景には,政党不信がある。フランスにおける首相公選論や「半大統領制」の経験が示すように,行政府の長の公選制では,長と議会多数派の関係を規定する政党システムがとりわけ重要な意味を持っている。それゆえ,首相公選を論じるに当たっては,制度設計のみならず政党システムにも十分留意する必要がある。日本におけるその導入をめぐっては,政党不信を考えると,ポピュリズムの懸念もある。アメリカのような分権的政党を前提にした大統領型の公選制については,利益誘導の昂進も問題となる。二大政党制を通じた事実上の公選も考えられるが,二大政党制が日本に適合するかは疑問である。直接公選によるリーダーシップの確立よりも,多様な民意の反映を通じた政党システムの再生こそが重要ではないか。

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