I.2 Deficiencies of the Japanese Justice System: The Vertical and Horizontal Situations |
To identify the problems that the Japanese justice system faced in the 1990s (and is still largely facing today), two types of situation should be distinguished. The first is the Private versus Public situation, and the second is the Private versus Private situation. A clear contrast can be found between the two. |
| (1) Private versus public (vertical situation) |
The first situation concerns disputes between private parties and public authorities or organs. The notion of public authorities is broad, and includes all types of public organ such as the police, prosecutors, and local and central governments. In this vertical relationship, the Japanese legal system does not fully work to check misconduct by these public authorities. |
| (2) Private versus private (horizontal situation) |
The second situation involves disputes between private parties and other private parties. A private party is any entity that is not a public organ. As a result, all non-public parties such as individuals, labor unions and multinational corporations are included in this concept. Such disputes are mainly resolved by civil litigation. In this horizontal situation, the legal system in Japan plays a significant role, and has fewer problems. Even in this situation, however, a number of defects were found in the 1990s. |
| (3) Overall evaluation |
In short, it can be concluded that the Japanese justice system, and in particular its judicial institutions and the legal profession, failed to satisfy various parties ranging from ordinary citizens to major corporations in the 1990s. Moreover, a number of problems in the system had become evident to many people. This is why the process of justice system reform succeeded in involving many parts of society - a success that is considered to have contributed significantly to the Justice System Reform Council's ability to put forward drastic reform proposals. |