Increasing the number of lawyers in Japan, the LDP moving Japan towards judicial review

Today was a holiday here in Japan.  It was the holiday I believe for those souls that are no longer with us, so essentially Halloween, in its true pagan sense.  I took the day easy, did a bit of shopping and went for a bike ride.  I came across the Omiya College of Law.

It got me thinking about the drive in Japan to increase the number of lawyers.


http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080318i1.html

Judicial reform is having a quick and dramatic impact on the legal profession, not least on the number of lawyers. In March 2002, the government decided to increase the number of those who pass the bar exam to 3,000 a year by 2010. Only 1,000 were passed in 1999.

Lawyers prosecutors and judges conduct a mock trial at the Tokyo District Court last June in preparation for the introduction of the "saiban-in" quasi-jury system next year. YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO

As the Japan times article notes there has been an increase in the number of lawyers in Japan.  Along with the use of civilian juries there is obviously a movement towards the rule of law.  Why is that the case?  What is happening in Japan at this point in time that makes the rule of law, and increased use of the judiciary something attractive.

Following the legal scholar Ran Hirschl I believe that this change is in part motivated by political considerations, namely the challenges faced to the post war power the LDP.   While he is taking about Constitutional change the change in the legal system is similar.   In the last few years the structures that have essentially run Japan since the post war period have been challenged.

http://www.tulsalawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Hirschl.Final_.pdf

It was the reemergence of Quebec separatism that was in part the motivation behind the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the repatriation of the constitution.  Likewise in other societies, many constitutional changes have emerged as a result of social conflict.

If you ask the question, how have liberal social issues become effective in the last few decades in America you would have to look to the courts, judicial activism has been largely responsible for a good deal of progressive change.  By contrast, the political process was be relatively closed to progressive social change.  In Japan you have a very different social system.  There is a good deal of regulation and much less space for legal activism.  As he notes, in Japan judicial review has not been used so long as the LDP has been in power.

Likely part of the move towards an increase in the numbers of lawyers would be a lessening of regulation, and more leeway for parties to establish their rights through the legal process.