Japanese Law and Politics explores the relationship between law and governance in Japan. Although the course ostensibly deals with public law topics such as constitutionalism, administrative law and judicial activism, the course adopts a thematic approach to how these topics are played out in the Japanese legal setting. Thus, the theme of policymaking in Japan examines how the public policy agenda is set in Japan, focusing on the policy-making powers of the Diet, the bureaucracy, the judiciary and other legal agents. The theme of parochialism investigates Japan's political and legal engagement with the global community, tracing the tension between Japan's eagerness to assume a more prominent political role within the global community and its reluctance to internalise unwelcome international norms on the other. The theme of privatization charts the rise of corporate governments in Japan, exposing three trends of privatization in Japan - deregulation of rules, delegation of adjudication to private parties and relegation of public functions to the corporate domain. The final theme of pluralism explodes the myth of homogeneity in Japan and examines how the Japanese are prepared to use State legal institution to transform social protest into legal action.