Workshop: Governance in Japan am 13.06.2023

Organizers: Celeste Arrington and Gabriele Vogt

Date: June 13, 2023

Location: Internationales Begegnungszentrum (IBZ) München
Amalienstr. 38, 80799 München

This workshop explores the diversity of tools of governance in Japan today. Historically, scholars noted how Japanese approaches to public policy and social control tended to rely on non-binding and cooperative “soft law” measures, such as administrative guidance (gyōsei shidō), strong social norms, and public enlightenment activities (keihatsu). In the new millennium, however, legalistic modes of governance have proliferated, involving more detailed legal clauses, formal sanctions, and more participatory policymaking procedures. New laws set legal caps on work hours, prohibited discrimination against disabled persons, mandated environmental impact assessments, required public comment periods, and obliged new or renovated schools to install barrier-free features. Often, such legalistic rules coexist alongside hortatory soft law measures. Moreover, subnational ordinances sometimes add stronger regulations (uwanose jōrei) or extend the scope (yokodashi jōrei) of national legal frameworks.

By comparing public policy tools across diverse issue areas, this workshop aims to take stock of the range of different forms of governance that exist in Japan today—from recommendations to exercise self-restraint (jishuku yōsei) to obligations to endeavor (doryoku gimu) to legally enforceable rules. We will discuss the following questions: Under what conditions are Japanese policymakers likely to adopt informal versus legalistic tools of governance? Why is public policy becoming more legalistic in some issue areas but not others? How do formal and informal governance approaches interact, whether productively or not? To what extent are citizens more involved in governance? What implications do the diverse tools of governance have for Japanese democracy?

Open to the public, pre-registration is required by June 11, 2023 Please register here: https://forms.gle/2fNWFVjTSwimV6HE8.

We acknowledge support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the SFB 1369 “Cultures of Vigilance” at LMU Munich for this workshop.

Workshop Schedule:

13:00	Introductions
13:15 – 15:15	Panel: Governance Beyond State Actors Chair: Wen-Wei Lan, LMU
	Dual Characters – Emerging Patterns of Local Civic Self-Governance in Rural Japan Hanno Jentzsch, Leiden University
	The Yanbaru Model of Community Stores: A Case of “Third Place” Local Governance Gabriele Vogt, LMU
	The Revival of “Closed Country” Strategy: Japan’s Governance Tools in COVID-19 Sian Qian, LMU
	New and Old Manners on the Train in Times of the Pandemic Paul Kramer, LMU
	Exploring Standards and Rulemaking in Japanese Care Robotics James Wright, Alan Turing Institute
15:15 – 16:00	Coffee Break
16:00 – 18:00	Panel: The Changing Role of Legalism in Governance Chair: Jane Sarah Khanizadeh, LMU
	Japan’s Nuclear Disaster and the Politics of Safety Governance Florentine Koppenborg, TUM
	The Theory and Practice of Media Governance in Japan Yosuke Buchmeier, LMU
	Barrier-Free Reforms and Societal Demand for Legalistic Governance in Japan Celeste Arrington, George Washington University
	From Soft Law to Legal Pluralism: Japan’s Response to Hate Speech in Interaction between International, National, and Local Regulations Ayako Hatano, Oxford
	Same-Sex Marriage and Governance in Japan Guy Baldwin, University of Cambridge
18:00	Concluding Remarks