Colin P.A. Jones - The Japan Times

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Colin P.A. Jones

For Colin P.A. Jones's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Oct 15, 2014

Is it time to bid bye-bye to 'haro'?

When was the last time someone Japanese used your presence as an excuse to say 'haro' whilst furtively glancing sideways at their companions to confirm they just made the funniest joke ever?

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Sep 10, 2014

Five reasons why agricultural reform will be a tough slog

Today's column, in list form, tackles a subject that defies a more conventional presentation: Japanese agricultural regulation.

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Aug 25, 2014

Arming yourself with the legal system's greatest weapon

For American lawyers accustomed to struggling with massive walls of law books and expensive database services, one of the great things about Japanese law is that it is so compact and accessible.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Aug 6, 2014

Think you've got rights as a foreigner in Japan? Well, it's complicated

If you imagine paying taxes in Japan entitles you to welfare, you may want to take a seat.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Jul 9, 2014

Under Abe, Japan reconnects with the world of harm

It would be tragic if the process Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has set in motion destroys one of the truly great things about Japan: the fact that so little of its economy and society is devoted to harming other people.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Jun 18, 2014

Still dreaming of a Japan with juries — and without U.S. bases

At 84, Chihiro Isa hopes to see two things in his lifetime: the jury system reinstated in Japan and U.S. forces gone from Okinawa.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

May 14, 2014

From NHK, an offer you can't refuse

The state broadcaster's approach to separating the Japanese public from its money is legally and ethically troublesome, writes Colin P.A. Jones.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Apr 16, 2014

Hague jars with Japan's family law, a zero-sum game with only one outcome

A Japanese lawyer told me: 'To Westerners, marriage means 1+1=2. But in Japan it equals 1.' This made perfect sense to me, but perhaps I should explain.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Mar 26, 2014

Japan's Constitution: never amended but all too often undermined

If Japan's unwritten constitution is already so flexible, why are Abe and his party so bent on amending the written one?

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Feb 19, 2014

Nasty, brutish and short?: The brief life and times of 'Happy Bob'

March 1984: Ronald Reagan was U.S. president, Yasuhiro Nakasone Japan's prime minister. Afghan rebels were struggling to rid their country of foreign invaders (deja vu!). Break-dancing was a global craze. Tokyo Disneyland was so new it hadn't even been visited by Michael Jackson yet. Pay telephones were yellow or pink and couldn't dial overseas. I was in my first year at International Christian University in Tokyo, struggling with elementary kanji. And for a few brief magical weeks, Japan's foreign community was transfixed by "Happy Bob."

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues

Jan 15, 2014

Three cases, three paths to legitimacy for Supreme Court

When I began studying Japanese, one of my goals was to be able to read the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan's version of The Wall Street Journal. Achieving that goal, however, meant realizing that it is possibly The Most Boring Newspaper on Earth.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues

Dec 18, 2013

A secrets law for whom? Look who gets a free pass

Ancient Confucian scholars regarded law as a necessary evil, something used on lower orders of people who lacked the moral refinement to act righteously without prompting. Yet this just states a basic truth about law: It is something we do to other people. You and I know how to act properly, right? It's those awful other people who act like jerks and need their freedom restricted by rules.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND

Nov 20, 2013

For 'no war' Article 9, any reinterpretation will do

Since the conclusion of the Article 9 debate — that it permits Japan to participate in collective security efforts — is already known, all that is really called for is some kind of excuse that the public can give the nod to before returning to their smartphones.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues

Oct 16, 2013

The wonderful world of Japanese law: Yōkoso to endless discovery

Having kindly published my intermittent ramblings on Japanese law and the occasional other subject over the years, The Japan Times has seen fit to give me a monthly column.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Sep 16, 2013

Fukushima and the right to responsible government

A responsibility-shirking government is ultimately the people's problem — and responsibility — just as much as the nuclear disaster and all the nation's other problems are, argues Colin P.A. Jones.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Aug 5, 2013

SOFA: an unequal treaty that trumps the Constitution?

The prime minister's dogged focus on amending the American-tainted Constitution might reflect an uncomfortable unspoken truth — that it may be easier to change the Constitution than revise another document of potentially greater importance: the Status of Forces Agreement between Japan and the United States, which governs the legal status of the U.S. military presence in Japan.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Jul 2, 2013

The LDP constitution, article by article: a preview of things to come?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing for constitutional change. Yet he is playing the political huckster by proposing to first only fiddle with the amendment procedure in Article 96, lowering the threshold for the process to move forward from the approval of two-thirds of both houses of the Diet, as it currently stands, to a bare majority of the two chambers. In either case a national referendum would be required for the amendment to take effect.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Jun 25, 2013

Tweak the Constitution now, think later?

Whether it happens or not depends heavily on the results of the upcoming House of Councilors elections, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has clearly announced his intention to make amending the Constitution a campaign issue.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Jun 11, 2013

Hague Convention on child abduction may shape Japan's family law — or vice versa

Giant Hello Kitty-emblazoned kudos to Japan for finally signing the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. Now comes the hard part: actually making it work.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Apr 16, 2013

Mad court rush could brake or bless Abe's vision

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet rush to diminish the Bank of Japan's bothersome independence, join the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations (sort of . . .), start pouring lovely, popular concrete before the summer House of Councilors elections and (sotto voce) maybe even amend the Constitution, something amazing is happening in courts around the country: They are making decisions with astonishing speed and potentially profound implications. The two things may not be unrelated.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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