Implications of recent Japanese legal reforms

Abstract

The three papers in this volume explore changes in Japan’s legal framework in the areas of finance, competition policy and public administration. The papers were first presented at an international conference entitled ‘Beyond Japan Inc.: Reform and Transparency in Japanese Governance’, which was held at The Australian National University on 20 September 1999. The conference drew together Australian, Japanese, American and British experts from industry and academia and was generously supported by the Japan Foundation. Each paper in this volume focuses on developments in Japan’s legal framework and suggests that significant changes have taken place. In ‘After the Big Bang: heading for a transparent financial system’, Akiyoshi Horiuchi analyses the background of the Big Bang financial reforms, the progress with these reforms and the issues that remain to be faced. He argues that the Big Bang represents the breakdown of the old financial regime governing the Japanese economy and the beginning of regime change. In ‘Re-regulating Japanese Transactions: the competition law dimension’, Veronica Taylor examines the introduction of a new political initiative, the ‘legal system reform agenda’, and the institutional shift that seems to be occurring in competition law and enforcement. She argues that within both the systemic legal reform agenda and the competition regulation sphere, the balance in the regulatory mix leans toward more legalism and ‘juridification’. In ‘Private Governance of Public Rights in Japan: revisiting the Japanese governance debate’, Leon Wolff identifies a legal trend in Japan that has implications for the debate over the nature of Japanese governance: the private governance of public rights. Using a case study of changes in sexual harassment law, he argues that Japanese corporations are key players in the Japanese administrative state.