This thought-provoking book combines analysis of international commercial and investment treaty arbitration to examine how they have been framed by the twin tensions of "in/formalisation" and "glocalisation". Taking a comparative approach, the book focuses on Australia and Japan in their attempts to become regional hubs for international arbitration and dispute resolution services in the increasingly influential Asia-Pacific context as well as a global context. Interweaving historical, empirical and doctrinal research from over two decades of work in the field, Luke Nottage provides an interdisciplinary perspective on the shifting state of arbitration over this period. Chapters incorporate empirical findings on topics such as case disposition times for arbitration-related court proceedings, media coverage of arbitration and Arb-Med patterns in Japanese arbitrations. The book also makes normative arguments for more concerted bilateral and regional efforts to maintain global approaches and to encourage renewed informalisation in international arbitration. This book will be an invaluable read for both scholars and practitioners of international commercial arbitration and dispute resolution, particularly those in or involved with the Asia-Pacific region. Government policy-makers and investment treaty negotiators will also find its insights useful.

The book takes a stimulating and fresh look at the classical question: Who rules Japan? Seven highly informative analyses explore to what extent the 2001 judicial reforms have already transformed the Japanese state and paved the way for Japan's gradual shift from its (in)famous administrative governance model to a judicial state with the 'rule of law' at its center and a broader participation of citizens in the various spheres of public life.' - Harald Baum, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, GermanyThe dramatic growth of the Japanese economy in the post-war period, and its meltdown in the 1990s, generated major reform recommendations in 2001 from the Justice System Reform Council aimed at greater civic engagement with law. This timely book examines the regulation and design of the Japanese legal system and contributes a legal perspective to the long-standing debate in Japanese Studies: who governs Japan? Who Rules Japan? explores the extent to which a new Japanese state has emerged from this reform effort - one in which the Japanese people participate more freely in the legal system and have a greater stake in Japan's future. Expert contributors from across the globe tackle the question of whether Japan is now a judicial state, upturning earlier views of Japan as an administrative state. The book explores well-known reforms, such as lay participation in criminal justice, but also less well-canvassed topics such as industrial relations, dispute resolution, government lawyers, law within popular culture in Japan, and social welfare and the law. The blend of empiricism, policy analysis, theory and doctrine provides a discerning insight into the impact of the law reform initiatives from the Justice System Reform Council. Legal academics interested in comparative law broadly and Asian law specifically will find this book an indispensable contribution to the literature, offering a unique insight into the changing Japanese legal system. Students and scholars of Japanese Studies, especially the social sciences, will find clarity in this refreshing legal viewpoint of governance in contemporary Japan. Contributors: K. Anderson, T. Araki, S. Green, D.T. Johnson, S. Kozuka, C. Lawson, T. Ryan, L. Nottage, S. Shinomiya, L. Wolff

This important book translates seven landmark essays by one of Japan?s most respected and influential legal thinkers. While Takao Tanase concedes that law might not matter as much in Japan as it does in the United States, in a provocative challenge to socio-legal researchers and comparative lawyers, he asks: why should it? The issue, he contends, is not whether law matters to society; it is how society matters to law.Developing a descriptive and normative theory of community and the law, the author directly challenges the view that legal liberalism represents the pinnacle of legal achievement. He criticises liberalism for destroying community in the United States and for offering false hope for a delayed modernity in Japan. By applying a distinctive interpretivist methodology, he constructs a communitarian model of law and society that serves as an alternative to legal liberalism. The book challenges conventional understandings of such legal sociological staples as torts, lawyers? ethics, family law, human rights, constitutionalism and litigiousness.This fascinating book will prove a stimulating, thought provoking read for researchers and scholars of law, Japanese and American studies, sociology and jurisprudence.

This book considers foreign investment flows in major Asian economies. It critically assesses the patterns and issues involved in the substantive law and policy environment which impact on investment flows, as well as the related dispute resolution law and practice. The book combines insights from international law and comparative study and is attentive to the socio-economic contexts and competing theories of the role of law in Asia. Contributions come from both academics with considerable practical expertise and legal practitioners with strong academic backgrounds. The chapters analyze the law and practice of investment treaties and FDI regimes in Asia looking specifically at developments in Japan, India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea and Vietnam. The book explores the impact of the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s and the Global Financial Crisis a decade later, examining actual trends and policy debates relating to FDI and capital flows in Asia before and after those upheavals. Foreign Investment and Dispute Resolution: Law and Practice in Asia is a valuable resource for practitioners, academics and students of International and Comparative Law, Business and Finance Law, Business, Finance and Asian Studies.

Developing insights from a number of disciplines and with a details analysis of legislation, case law and academic theory, Product Safety and Liability Law in Japan contributes significantly to the understanding of contemporary Japan, its consumers and its law. It is also of practical use to all professionals exposed to product liability regimes evolving in Japan and other major economies.

This book considers foreign investment flows in major Asian economies. It critically assesses the patterns and issues involved in the substantive law and policy environment which impact on investment flows, as well as the related dispute resolution law and practice. The book combines insights from international law and comparative study and is attentive to the socio-economic contexts and competing theories of the role of law in Asia. Contributions come from both academics with considerable practical expertise and legal practitioners with strong academic backgrounds. The chapters analyze the law and practice of investment treaties and FDI regimes in Asia looking specifically at developments in Japan, India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea and Vietnam. The book explores the impact of the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s and the Global Financial Crisis a decade later, examining actual trends and policy debates relating to FDI and capital flows in Asia before and after those upheavals.

Foreign Investment and Dispute Resolution: Law and Practice in Asia is a valuable resource for practitioners, academics and students of International and Comparative Law, Business and Finance Law, Business, Finance and Asian Studies.

In the wake of environmental disasters such as the mercury poisonings in Minamata in the 1950s, a culturalist view of Japan as being in the thrall of weak legal consciousness and consumerism has persisted. This volume contests that view by reassessing Japanese product liability law and practice in a global context, comparing it with law in the European Union, United States and Australia.
The still-birth of product liability in the 1970s is contrasted with its rebirth in the late 1980s, and its pervasive impact throughout the 1990s is gauged at various levels, concluding that new processes are emerging in Japan, as in other complex industrialized democracies, which render product safety regulation more private and product liability more public.

The 'lost decade' of economic stagnation in Japan during the 1990s has become a 'found decade' for regulatory and institutional reform. Nowhere is this more evident than in corporate law. In 2005, for example, a spate of reforms to the Commercial Code culminated in the new Company Act, a statute promising greater organisational flexibility and shareholder empowerment for Japanese corporations competing in a more globalised economy. But does this new law herald a more 'Americanised' system of corporate governance? Has Japan embraced shareholder primacy over its traditional loyalty to other key stakeholders such as 'main banks', core employees, and partners within diffuse corporate (keiretsu) groups? This book argues that a more complex 'gradual transformation' is unfolding in Japan - a process evident in many other post-industrial economies. The book brings together contributions from academics and practitioners from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. It includes chapters on comparative corporate governance theory and methodology, lifelong employment, the main bank system, board structures, and governance issues in small and medium-sized enterprises. The procedural, substantive and FDI policy dimensions of takeover law and practice are discussed, as well as empirical changes to corporate governance practices in large, publicly listed companies during the past twenty years. The authors' rich mix of national, disciplinary and professional backgrounds allows for a broad comparative perspective on developments in Japanese corporate governance. The book will be of great interest to scholars and students of law, business, political economy and Japanese studies, and will also appeal to corporate lawyers and policymakers.

The rise of the independent director in Asia is an issue of global consequence that has been largely overlooked until recently. Less than two decades ago, independent directors were oddities in Asia's boardrooms. Today, they are ubiquitous. Independent Directors in Asia undertakes the first detailed analysis of this phenomenon. It provides in-depth historical, contextual and comparative perspectives on the law and practice of independent directors in seven core Asian jurisdictions (China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan) and Australia. These case studies reveal the varieties of independent directors in Asia, none of which conform to its original American concept. The authors develop a taxonomy of these varieties, which provides a powerful analytical tool for more accurately understanding and effectively researching independent directors in Asia. This new approach challenges foundational aspects of comparative corporate governance practice and suggests a new path for comparative corporate governance scholarship and reform.

The rise of the independent director in Asia is an issue of global consequence that has been largely overlooked until recently. Less than two decades ago, independent directors were oddities in Asia's boardrooms. Today, they are ubiquitous. Independent Directors in Asia undertakes the first detailed analysis of this phenomenon. It provides in-depth historical, contextual and comparative perspectives on the law and practice of independent directors in seven core Asian jurisdictions (China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan) and Australia. These case studies reveal the varieties of independent directors in Asia, none of which conform to its original American concept. The authors develop a taxonomy of these varieties, which provides a powerful analytical tool for more accurately understanding and effectively researching independent directors in Asia. This new approach challenges foundational aspects of comparative corporate governance practice and suggests a new path for comparative corporate governance scholarship and reform.

The book outlines the regulatory environment for disaster prevention and management in broad social, economic and political context. The first half of the book focuses mainly on Japan, especially the '3-11' events: the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Tohoku area on 11 March 2011 and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant radiation leaks. The second half focuses on the USA (the only other Asia-Pacific country to have experienced a serious nuclear emergency), Indonesia, China, New Zealand, Australia and international law. One question explored is whether socio-legal norms play different roles in preventing and managing responses to natural disasters compared to 'man-made' disasters. Another is how 'disaster law' interacts with society across very diverse societies in the disaster-prone Asia-Pacific region. The book also addresses the increasingly important roles played by international law and regional regimes for cross-border cooperation in disaster prevention and relief, including the functions played by military forces. Erudite, pragmatic, and charged with detailed, substantive knowledge of an astonishing range of contexts and research fields, this timely collection of important essays on the law and society of disaster management stands as an exemplary international academic response to the disasters of 11 March 2011. (Annelise Riles)

The book outlines the regulatory environment for disaster prevention and management in broad social, economic and political context. The first half of the book focuses mainly on Japan, especially the 3-11 events: the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Tohoku area on 11 March 2011 and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant radiation leaks. The second half focuses on the USA (the only other Asia-Pacific country to have experienced a serious nuclear emergency), Indonesia, China, New Zealand, Australia and international law. One question explored is whether socio-legal norms play different roles in preventing and managing responses to natural disasters compared to man-made disasters. Another is how disaster law interacts with society across very diverse societies in the disaster-prone Asia-Pacific region. The book also addresses the increasingly important roles played by international law and regional regimes for cross-border cooperation in disaster prevention and relief, including the functions played by military forces.

Erudite, pragmatic, and charged with detailed, substantive knowledge of an astonishing range of contexts and research fields, this timely collection of important essays on the law and society of disaster management stands as an exemplary international academic response to the disasters of 11 March 2011.(Annelise Riles)"

This is the first Western-language research monograph detailing significant developments in consumer law and policy across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), underpinned by a growing middle class and implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community from 2016. Eight chapters examine consumer law topics within ASEAN member states (such as product safety and consumer contracts) and across them (financial and health services), as well as the interface with competition law and the nature of ASEAN as a unique and evolving international organisation. The authors include insights from extensive fieldwork, partly through consultancies for the ASEAN Secretariat, to provide a reliable, contextual and up-to-date analysis of consumer law and policy development across the region. The volume also draws on and contributes to theories of law and development in multiple fields, including comparative law, political economy and regional studies.