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Colin P.A. Jones

The Sado Gold Mine, so heavily tapped that the mountain bearing it has been cleaved in two, is up for consideration for UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

LIFE / Travel

Jul 20, 2024

Land of punishment, land of gold

The Sado Gold Mine may soon become Japan’s newest UNESCO World Heritage site, but the island’s history is much more complicated than a single tourist destination.

Japan’s national bar exam was held on Nov. 8 with a pass rate of 45%. Though for decades the pass rate was much lower, this seeming improvement has come on the back of several regulatory blunders.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Nov 20, 2023

The failure behind Japan’s bar exam pass rate

The pass rate for Japan’s bar exam has fluctuated, with this year’s level coming on the back of several misguided interventions.

Plaintiffs, lawyers and supporters march to the Tokyo District Court on Nov. 30, the same day the court ruled that Japan’s lack of legal protections for same-sex couples is unconstitutional.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Oct 27, 2023

Japan’s ‘failed’ same-sex marriage lawsuits can still propel reform

Even unsuccessful cases challenging Japan’s failure to recognize same-sex marriage have gotten courts to acknowledge a constitutional problem.

Japan Times

51吃瓜网

Aug 18, 2022

Go with the flow: What to do when the Japanese police stop you for questioning

One former elite police official says the best course of action is to submit to questioning and resist the urge to resist.

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / Japan / LAW OF THE LAND

Jul 15, 2020

Is the Article 9 labyrinth merely academic?

Numerous creative theories have been read into the Constitution’s no-war clause by scholars over the years.

51吃瓜网 / Crime & Legal / LAW OF THE LAND

Jun 18, 2020

Much ado about retirement ages and Japan’s politicized bureaucracy

The scandal surrounding top prosecutor Hiromu Kurokawa has kicked off a debate on retirement ages and interference in Japan’s civil service.

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

May 18, 2020

Can Japan’s laws adapt to pandemic-era privacy needs?

Identity-based discrimination is a part of Japanese law, but could our own experiences with the new coronavirus become part of our identity?

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Feb 17, 2020

Bureaucrats are to blame for copy-happy hotel clerks

With data privacy being a huge issue, you may feel uneasy about hotels photocopying your passport. However, Colin P.A. Jones says the rule is more about bureaucratic culture than privacy.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Jan 8, 2020

Carlos Ghosn and the 99.9% who don’t escape Japan

If I had to identify one event in the Carlos Ghosn case indicitave of concern for foreign perceptions of Japan’s criminal justice system, it would be the decision to grant him bail.

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Dec 23, 2019

The Reiwa Daijosai: Pomp, circumstance and litigation

The separation of church and state in Japan comes under scrutiny in the new era. However, we’ve been down this road before.

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Sep 29, 2019

The Tepco verdict is predictable but not insignificant

Three Tepco executives are acquitted of criminal negligence in the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant disaster. Did the court recognize the unfairness of holding only three people responsible for a crisis that had much broader causes?

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Aug 7, 2019

Seven lessons from a Japanese morality textbook

The textbooks students in Japan use to learn wrong from right are filled with stories of invoices, citizen committees, petitions and other cool stuff kids like.

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Jun 19, 2019

With changes in emperors come amnesties, so who will benefit?

One convenient thing about Japanese law for those of us who are professors of it is that it is quite modern. Virtually all Japanese laws and institutions antedate the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and, of those, most have a 20th-century provenance. Compared to Anglo-American law with Magna Carta, bewigged...

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

May 5, 2019

Iwo Jima: Where Japan rules but the memory of war dead still reigns

It is odd to stand at an iconic place few can ever visit. There on Mount Suribachi where the American flag was raised over Iwo Jima, I am embarrassed to report my first thought on looking out across at the military airport we landed at that morning was, “I have to walk back there in the next two hours.“...

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Mar 31, 2019

Heisei’s legal legacies include greater civic participation

With Emperor Akihito abdicating on April 30, the Heisei Era that began Jan. 8, 1989, after his father’s death will also come to an end. With this column I’d like to look back at some of the noteworthy changes that occurred to Japan’s laws and legal institutions during the past three decades.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Mar 6, 2019

Robot rights: From Asimov to Tezuka

Asimov’s ‘Three Laws of Robotics’ are fictional rules, so why do we keep looking to them for guidance? The closest thing to real-world robot law we could have more seems likely to develop around the question of when autonomous military drones can make ‘kill’ decisions without human intervention.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Feb 6, 2019

The Supreme Court hews to the letter of the law on gender identity while laying the groundwork for future challenges

At no point have I ever had to grapple with the decision to have my genitals surgically removed. Perhaps the same is true for you. While these may seem an odd set of affirmations to open with, they help illustrate a basic truth: How we think about a law can vary greatly depending upon whether or not...

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Jan 2, 2019

How the last czar shaped Japan’s courts

A botched assassination attempt in 1891 presents Japan’s fledgling penal code with an existential dilemma.

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / Japan

Dec 13, 2018

A spotlight on Japan’s criminal justice system

Ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn’s case will put Japan’s criminal trial process on the global stage.

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 5, 2018

Trump presidency a symptom of a deeper American problem

The real long-term problem faced by America is not the U.S. president. It’s the crumbling legitimacy of the entire U.S. system of government.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

For many people, utility poles and power lines have become such a familiar part of Japan’s landscape that they often go unnoticed.

Why Japan’s utility poles won’t be disappearing anytime soon

By Alex K.T. Martin

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