Asia : guide to legal resources: Japan

Remote access requires Oxford SSO.
"To further cross-cultural dialogue on foreign law, the Journal publishes English-language translations of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese legal materials."

Provided by the National Diet Library

Official website. Japanese only New legislation is published in Kanpō (Gazettes)

Official website Recent laws & treaties, and explanation of law making process in Japanese only.

Open access database maintained by Japanese Ministry of Justice
NB "The translations contained in the Japanese Law Translation Database System are not official texts, and not all of the translations are finalized versions. Only the original Japanese texts of the laws and regulations have legal effect, and the translations are to be used solely as reference materials to aid in the understanding of Japanese laws and regulations. The government of Japan is not responsible for the accuracy, reliability or currency of the legislative material provided in this website, or for any consequence resulting from use of the information in this website. For all purposes of interpreting and applying law to any legal issue or dispute, users should consult the original Japanese texts published in the Official Gazette."

Official website English contents include database of selected decisions in English (for guidance,these are not official translations)

Searchable database of official case reports. Japanese only. Cases of the Supreme Court, high courts and district courts. Party names (unless those of corporations) are usually suppressed: search by court and date of the judgment.

Free resource. This link is to the English language index: much more is available not in translation

CiNii (Scholarly and Academic Information Navigator) for academic information of articles, books, journals and dissertations.

The Journal is a joint publication of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law (MPI), Hamburg, and the German-Japanese Association of Jurists (DJJV). Latest issue
Free online law journal. "Inaugurated in 1996, the Zeitschrift für Japanisches Recht / Journal of Japanese Law aims to be a truly international periodical for researchers and practitioners. Featuring comparative analysis on a full range of Japanese law topics, it adopts a variety of formats and methodological approaches and maximizes accessibility to Japanese law through publication in western languages (German, English and French)."

Articles from earlier issues are in the „Archives“ and can be located with the „Search“ function.

Official website of Japanese "policy think tank established in 2001. Its mission is to conduct theoretical and empirical research, maximize synergies with those engaged in policymaking, and to make policy proposals based on evidence derived from such research activities." Publications available in Japanese, English, and Chinese.