Greeting from the Director
(Last Updated : 21 / September / 2014)
Welcome to Waseda University Institute of Comparative Law!
Waseda University Institute of Comparative Law was established in 1958 for the purpose of conducting comparative research into Japan's legal system and those of other countries, and of contributing to research and education in the field of Japanese jurisprudence. Throughout its history the Institute has been systematically collating materials concerning the legal systems of countries worldwide, accumulating collections of statutes, case law, and law journals, building one of Japan's preeminent law libraries.
The Institute's activities initially focused on research into legal systems, primarily of Western countries, but with the development of Japan's social and economic systems and the evolution of Japan's own legal system, steadily increasing importance has been given to promulgating information about Japan's legal system to Western and other Asian countries.
The Institute's staff include 127 research affiliates, all of whom are full-time Waseda University faculty members, and 82 adjunct researchers selected from researchers outside the university. In addition, agreements have been concluded with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Law, Tsinghua University School of Law, the University of Melbourne Institute for Comparative and International Law, Duke University School of Law, the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, the Korea Legislation Research Institute, and University College London (UCL), and exchange researchers are welcomed from those institutions. Visiting scholars and researchers from abroad are also accepted through such channels as the Waseda University International Affairs Division's International Office.
The Institute is currently engaged in 18 joint research projects in which comparative-law research is being actively conducted by its research affiliates and adjunct researchers. In addition, it holds open lectures on a semimonthly basis for which it invites legal academics from around the world who are at the forefront of research in various fields of law. The results of these research activities are published regularly in Hikaku Hogaku [Comparative law] and Hikakuhokenyujo Sosho [Comparative law study series], and to provide information about the Japanese legal system and jurisprudence internationally, we also publish the Waseda Bulletin of Comparative Law annually in English. We have also recently been placing greater emphasis on the use of websites for the dissemination of information in English, providing up-to-date details of legislation and important case law and other topics such as recent developments in the academic world. The articles are written by researchers conducting research activity at the cutting edge of academia and posted in a timely manner.
In addition to these research activities, since 2013 we have been conducting an Institute-wide research project entitled " The Role of Law and Jurisprudence in the Transition to a Sustainable Society: Prospect for Asian Regional Law " This research is based on introspection that modern nations pursuing development premised on ceaseless economic growth have accelerated the depletion of natural resources and given rise to production and labor surpluses, and it aims to give consideration to the role of law and jurisprudence in balancing the threeelements -the economy, society, and the environment- in order to accomplish a transition to a sustainable society that also takes future generations into account. As exemplified by the problems that are afflicting the natural environment, there is a pressing need for research of this kind, not only with regard to the situation within Japan, but also at supranational level.
Learning in part from the experiment embodied by the European Union as a model case, this project is conceptualizing the development of regional law for the Asian region. The project arose from a conception by my predecessor as Director of the Institute, Professor Yoshiki Kurumisawa (currently Senior Dean , Waseda University Jurisprudence Academy), and as his successor I shall carry on the task of developing it.
Through diverse research activities such as those referred to above, Waseda University Institute of Comparative Law desires to serve as a "door" that contributes actively to strengthening ties between law researchers in countries throughout the world and Japanese jurisprudence and law researchers. Please feel free to contact the Institute. All approaches will be welcomed.
September 21, 2014
Professor Yoshimi Kikuch
