1007. J. Mark Ramseyer, The Japanese Judiciary, 06/2019; forthcoming in Oxford Handbook of Japanese Politics, Robert Pekkanen & Saadia Pekkanen, eds., New York: Oxford University Press.

Abstract: In this essay for the Oxford Handbook of Japanese Politics, I survey the state of (and the research into) the Japanese judiciary. Japan operates a largely honest and meritocratic judiciary. The court’s administrative office (and indirectly, the ruling party) can reward and punish judge for the quality of the work they do–and has. For the most part, the administrative office uses that capacity to reward good work. It can also use the capacity to punish opposition politics–but self-selection into the judiciary seems to keep the (perceived) need for that political intervention to a minimum.

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