Colin P.A. Jones - The Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Mar 12, 2013

Do dire predictions for Japan factor in a rush for the exits?

Within two hours of the massive earthquake that jolted Japan at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, the Japanese government received notice that an “Article 15 event” had occurred at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Jan 28, 2013

Blame it on the hara: harassment vocabulary makes us all victims

Japan has a new hara. No, the nice couple down the hall didn't just have a baby; according to recent news, yet another form of harassment is supposedly becoming a social problem.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Jan 22, 2013

Fixing the much-admired, reviled Constitution — by breaking it

With Shinzo Abe having called Japan's current Constitution "pathetic" (mittomonai) just a few days before taking charge of a government established under it, constitutional amendment seems likely to be on the agenda of his second go as prime minister. This should not surprise anyone, since "fixing" the charter tainted with America and defeat has been a goal of conservatives since Japan regained its independence in 1952.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Dec 18, 2012

Stop thinking — the test is about to start

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Oct 9, 2012

A guide to navigating Japan's exotic legal-eagle menagerie

A common mistake made by foreigners trying to accomplish things in Japan is to go to a lawyer (bengoshi) with their problems. It is not a mistake because of a bunch of hooey about Japanese people not looking to the law for solutions, but because a lawyer may not be the best man or woman for the job.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Sep 18, 2012

It's past midnight but child-abduction treaty promise is not yet a pumpkin

Despite much promise and a flurry of activity, it didn't happen: Japan failed to ratify the Hague Convention on international child abduction and pass the extensive piece of accompanying domestic legislation the government felt was necessary in order for it to do so. Both items on the Diet agenda were left up in the air when it closed for business on Sept. 8, with an election for the House of Representatives expected to be held before the end of the year.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Sep 4, 2012

Our mixed-race children deserve better than this, so why bother with Japan?

When it comes to parceling out rights, Japanese law makes a very clear distinction: What you get depends upon whether you are a Japanese citizen or not. Sort of.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Jun 19, 2012

Mishmash jumble of systems is recipe for a do-little Diet

Given the momentous fiscal and social problems Japan was facing even before Fukushima, even foreign residents — who can't vote — may be wondering what on Earth Japan's elected officials are doing to solve the nation's many ills.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives

Jun 5, 2012

Much ado, but micro-important

A few weeks ago, as a panelist at a symposium on Japan's accession to the Hague Convention on international child abduction, I found it hard to disguise my ire. One of the speakers was a lawyer opposed to Japan joining the convention, and who refused to even use "abduction" to discuss what she called "moving with your children." Another was a law professor who declared that parents had only duties, not rights, when it came to their children.

COMMUNITY / Issues / LIGHT GIST

Apr 24, 2012

Poetic, but maybe not justice: Japan demystified in haiku

One of my goals in writing for The Japan Times over the years has been to try to render the seemingly arcane functioning of the Japanese legal system a bit more comprehensible to non-Japanese, non-legal types. This involves a big assumption that I understand it myself, but I have at least tried to offer up an analytical framework for trying to understand how things work in the legal sphere here (executive summary: You will probably lose).

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Apr 3, 2012

These are a few of my favorite things — about the Japanese

Debito Arudou's Feb. 7 Just Be Cause column describing the 10 things he likes about Japan both inspired and depressed me. As a frequent critic of the country's legal system (among other things), his piece made me stop and think of some of the things I like about Japan that are all too easy to take for granted. At the same time, most of the things on Debito's list were just that — things. Seafood, toilets and onomatopoeia are nice, but hardly constitute a ringing endorsement of the country where I have chosen to live.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Feb 21, 2012

Expectations low as Hague signing approaches

Several months ago I made a bet with a friend about how the Hague Convention on international child abduction will be applied after Japan finishes implementing it through domestic legislation. My bet was this: If a Japanese court ever does order the return of a child wrongfully brought or retained here, the first case will be one in which both parents are non-Japanese. Needless to say, I hope to lose.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Jan 17, 2012

And then there was one?: Japan's right royal crisis

According to the Japanese Constitution, the Emperor is the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people. You could thus say it is symbolic that the Imperial household is now facing an unprecedented demographic crisis, one that may ultimately lead to a succession dilemma and possibly even a constitutional quandary. While the recent hospitalization of 78-year-old Emperor Akihito due to illness has probably made more people think about succession, a more urgent cause of official concern may lie elsewhere: marriage.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Dec 13, 2011

Corporate governance in the shadow of Olympus

According to the "third-party committee" of outside experts appointed by Olympus to investigate the accounting scandal recently exposed by its sacked CEO, Michael Woodford, at least some of the company's directors, auditors and employees failed to stop or were even complicit in an ongoing effort to hide massive investment losses dating back to the early 1990s.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Nov 15, 2011

Tokyo ordinance a potential contract-killer

A prediction: if Japan ever becomes a police state, it will come about not by national law but municipal ordinances. And the war on organized crime could be the engine that drives the process.

COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST

Nov 1, 2011

Schizophrenic Constitution leaves foreigners' rights mired in confusion

Pop quiz: Who live in palatial homes in fashionable Tokyo neighborhoods but are subject to various forms of discrimination, have no family registry, can't vote and have limited constitutional rights?

COMMUNITY / LIGHT GIST

Aug 30, 2011

Mascots on a mission to explain the mundane

It is often said that the Japanese have a unique attitude towards law. Many explanations have been offered for why this is so, and in what circumstances:

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Aug 9, 2011

Upcoming legal reforms: a plus for children or plus ca change?

Those focused on the government's stumbling efforts to protect the children of Fukushima from radioactive contamination may find this hard to believe, but Japanese family law just got more child-friendly — maybe. If Japan finally signs the Hague Convention on child abduction, as it appears it will, it could become even more so. There is a big "maybe" here too, so it remains to be seen whether these two steps taken by the Diet will steer the country away from its status as a black hole for parental abduction or leave it treading the same sorry path.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Mar 8, 2011

Byzantine temp rules need permanent fix

Back in the days when I was a corporate drone in Tokyo, I had a wonderful secretary who had the good fortune to get pregnant. Bad news for me, though, since I had to endure a series of temps, some good, some bad, and one who marinated herself in enough perfume to make everyone ill. But what I found most annoying was that each time the HR department hired a new temp, they never gave me a chance to interview her first — I would show up at work one day and there she would be. Some years later, I finally understand why I was not able to meet the temps first: It would have been against the law.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Mar 1, 2011

Solving parental child abduction problem no piece of cake

The Way of Cake is mysterious and paradoxical. A master of the Way can make his neighbors feel they have filled themselves with tasty cake without ever cutting off a piece. The Way allows its disciple to step outside the boundaries of rational thought by partaking of cake while continuing to possess cake.

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