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11 Howard L.J. 316 (1965)
Human Rights in Japan through the Looking-Glass of Supreme Court Opinions

handle is hein.journals/howlj11 and id is 326 raw text is: Human Rights in Japan Through the Looking-Glass of Supreme Court Opinions NATHANIEL L. NATHANSON* As my title indicates, I have chosen to approach the sub- ject of Human Rights in Japan entirely from the vantage point, or if you will, through the peephole of constitutional law, as interpreted and applied by the Supreme Court of Japan. I have made this choice for two reasons, one very practical, the other somewhat more philosophical. The practical reason is that I feel more at home with the opinions of the Supreme Court of Japan than any other source materials, thanks both to the generosity of Japanese colleagues and students who have over the years sup- plied me with translations, and also thanks to the excellent work of Professor Maki and his collaborators, who have recently published a valuable collection in English of Supreme Court decisions.' The second more philosophical reason, which might perhaps be called a rationalization for necessity, is that through these concrete examples of actual cases, we can make some educated guesses about the general state of human rights or civil liberties in Japan, while from the opinions of the Justices, we may glean some hints of the prevailing or contending legal, political, and even social philosophies of modern Japan. Before turning to my specific examples, I would like, however, to sug- gest one caveat which I believe should be borne in mind when- ever judicial decisions are used as a mirror for reflecting social realities. We must be wary lest we take the occasional clinical case as a fair sample of the general state of health of the body politic. Sometimes a particular decision may be most significant, not for the way in which the decision goes, that is, for or against the particular right or liberty asserted, but rather for the illumi- nation it sheds as to where the current battle lines are drawn and what may be the broad area of agreement which makes it possible to join battle on the periphery of accepted standards of liberty and justice. In considering the particular cases, it is necessary to bear * B.A., LL.B. Yale University; S.J.D. Harvard University; Professor of Law, Northwestern University; Visiting Research Scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. I Maki, Court and Constitution in Japan (1964).

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