The North American nobility is sitting on the advocate's benches and the judgment seats. It is where the aristocracy is to be found. The legally trained are viewed as the most intellectually educated part of the society in the U.S., and they form the inner circle of the political and business elite. This aspect of the North American society is one that has never been copied by Japan.
Japan has had a Western-style legal system, modeled on
Germany's, since 1868. But for the common citizen consulting an advocate is
something to be avoided.
In 1983, a reporter of the Time Magazin had a closer look at Japan and found, to his astonishment, a land without lawyers. “Most Japanese,” said the reporter, “live and die without ever having seen one.”
Another reporter from the Washington post was amazed to see
the law office of Dalkichi Shiratani. A small and cramped room on the fourth
floor of a worn-down building in an unfashionable district of Tokyo. Only by
chance did he find the staircase. A tiny gap between a tobacco stand and an
open-air clothes market he could barely push through.
Shiratani’s practice was busy and successful. But only
because he was one of a handful of lawyers in Japan. The 1980’s were a time
when Japan's population count was roughly 120 Million. There were 11'000
registered advocates in the country. A relationship of citizens to advocate of
roughly 11'000:1.
By comparison the relationship in Western Germany stood at
1'700:1. And in the advocate's paradise, the U.S., there were 240 Million
people compared to 700' 000 advocates, leaving us with a staggering ratio of
340:1. Washington alone had double the amount of advocates than the whole of
Japan, who in a funny twist, had at least 34 certified Ikibana teachers for
every lawyer.
Since then, due to major reforms of the Japanese legal
system in 2001, things have changed, and the number of lawyers roughly tripled.
But still, compared to the 1.2 million registered North- American lawyers in
2012 (according to the American Bar Association) the number of Japanese lawyers
remains astoundingly low.
The main difference between the Japanese and Western
interpretation of law is that the western society is one of conflict and wants
to settle disputes orderly. The Japanese society is one of harmony seeking to
avoid conflicts at all means.
Japan is based on a sense of justice that was passed down by
its own traditions. Written contracts and legislations are not widely accepted
as a system that arranges personal relationships in a legally binding manner. Human
interactions in the Japanese society were never defined by rationality and the
drawing of abstract legal norms. Rather it still is, and always was, determined
by personal and emotional ties.
A society seeking harmony will often adhere to nontransparent
and unpredictable ways to solve a problem. A conflict seeking society adheres
to strict laws and rules with a transparent and calculable process and outcome.
To western observers the "society of harmony" acts in an
"illogical" manner and the "society of conflict" in a
logical one and they draw the false conclusion of the latter being superior.
But it is the "illogical" Japanese "society
of harmony" that has a big advantage over the western "society of
conflict". The Japanese have brought into perfection the art of being
flexible. In such a society, decisions are made, and conflicts are solved,
situational. They are very much up in the air and always different.
That makes understanding the concept of "reading the
air" so important if you want to understand Japan. The Japanese expression
"Reading the air" basically refers to the art of staying so in tune
to social expectations that one fits in perfectly without ever being told
anything at all. What is expected by society is all in the air to be detected.
There is no need for punishment, policing or even instructions. A court
appearance therefore is not only a painful experience, but rather a confession
of social failure.
Japan's social and economic successes in the past, and those
likely happening in the future, have and will challenge the Europeans and Anglo-
Saxons. They should self-critically contemplate if the absolutism of the ego
(i.e. the monopoly of the individual) really is the right answer to the
problems the society and the modern (post-) industrial age is facing.
The Japanese "society of harmony" resembles the
bamboo: It is bending and bowing, but it survives every typhoon. The same
cannot be said for the English oak.
Lack of Lawyers is no Joke in Japan (Tokyo Weekender)
Japan: The Land of Few Lawyers (Washington Post)
Hans Peter Vahlefeld; Japan:
Herausforderungen ohne Ende; Deutsche Verlagsanstalt 1992
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