Events

Recent Events

Asian American History and the Law: A Long March (2022) Screening and Discussion

Thursday, February 22, 2024, 4:15 p.m.-6:15 p.m.
Jerome Greene Hall, Room 105

A Long March (2022) is a PBS documentary about Filipino American veterans of World War II seeking to regain their place in history and restore their identity as veterans of the United States. The story highlights in historical context the legal issues they have faced from the administrative bureaucracy of the U.S. government to the Federal Courts. It is a revealing look at how the United States conscripted Commonwealth Filipino forces to defeat World War II Axis powers – then denied hundreds of thousands of veterans recognition for honorable service.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion that will draw upon the Filipino American experience to consider issues relating to the Asian American experience in historical and legal perspective.  Panelists include TS Botkin, Producer/Director; Anna Mercado Clark, President, NAPABA; Sheila Coronel, Toni Stabile Professor ofProfessional Practice in Investigative Journalism, Columbia School of Journalism; and Bert Huang, Harold R. Medina Professor of ProceduralJurisprudence, Columbia Law School. 

Nobuhisa Ishizuka, Executive Director, Center for Japanese Legal Studies, Columbia Law School, will moderate the discussion.

This event is organized by the Center for Japanese Legal Studies and co-sponsored by Weatherhead East Asian Institute, APALSA and Nihon Horitsu Kenkyukai (NHK).

Getting to Know Japan: Japan's Legal System

November 17, 2022, 7pm (JST) / 5 a.m. (EST)
Online

Nobuhisa Ishizuka, Executive Director Center for Japanese Legal Studies, provided an introductory overview of the differences between the legal systems and cultures of the United States and Japan. In particular, Mr. Ishizuka highlighted American influence on Japanese law, as well as areas where the two systems diverge, including in the role of lawyers and judges, separation of powers, and criminal law.

This event was a part of the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies' "Getting to Know Japan Series" co-sponsored by The United States-Japan Foundation (USJF).

Criminal Justice in Japan – A Comparative Perspective

October 12, 2020, 4:40 p.m. - 5:40 p.m.
Online | Watch the recording

Presentation by David T. Johnson, Professor, University of Hawaii, followed by a discussion with Kiyo A. Matsumoto, United States District Judge, Eastern District of New York; moderated by Center for Japanese Legal Studies executive director Nobuhisa Ishizuka.

Professor Johnson, a prominent scholar on the criminal justice system in Japan and comparative law and society, will discuss the fundamental differences in approach to criminal justice in Japan and the U.S.  Focusing on the role of state and society in regulating and monitoring individual accountability, as demonstrated by differences in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion and the role of admission of guilt, he will draw on his extensive research to challenge us to re-examine basic assumptions about our own system of administering criminal justice.

Marriage Equality, Individual Rights and the Law in Japan

September 28th, 2020, 4:40 p.m. - 5:40 p.m.
Online | Watch the recording

Presentation by Frank K. Upham, Wilf Family Professor of Property Law, NYU School of Law, followed by a conversation with Suzanne A. Kim, Professor of Law and Judge Denny Chin Scholar at Rutgers Law School; moderated by Center for Japanese Legal Studies executive director  Nobuhisa Ishizuka.

Professor Upham, widely recognized for his leading scholarship on Japanese law and its social and political role in contemporary Japan, will discuss his current research at the intersection of law and social justice in Japan, focusing specifically on the country’s legal approach and judicial responses to marriage equality, gay rights and the individual’s relationship to society.  In doing so he will draw on his current comparative study of the interaction of legal doctrine, social and economic structure, and culture in gender discrimination in France, Japan and the United States.

East Asia's Response to COVID-19

Friday, April 24th, 2020, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Online | Watch the recording

Closely bound by travel and trade, with multiple high density urban centers, the governments of China, South Korea and Japan have each had to contend with COVID-19’s rapid spread. Yet each has taken a different approach to combating the virus and managing it at the national level. What accounts for both the different levels of preparedness and the different approaches in East Asia? What legal measures have been taken by each country? Join the Directors of the Centers for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Legal Studies, Ben Liebman, Nobuhisa Ishizuka, and Jeong-Ho Roh at Columbia Law School in a discussion on the comparative approaches, lessons, and the potential for trilateral cooperation.

Criminal Justice in the U.S. and Japan: Lessons of the Carlos Ghosn Case

Monday, February 17th, 2020 @ 5:00pm
Jerome Greene Hall, Room 103

A panel of U.S. and Japanese experts explore the fundamental differences between the U.S. and Japanese criminal justice systems in light of the Ghosn case.

Daniel C. Richman, Paul J. Kellner Professor of Law
Daichi Ito*, District Court Judge, Japan
Sayaka Sekimiya*,  Public Prosecutor of Japan

Moderated by Nobuhisa Ishizuka, Executive Director Center for Japanese Legal Studies, and Fred Davis, Lecturer in Law; Retired Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

* panelists are speaking in their personal capacity and any views or opinions expressed do not represent the views of the Japanese Government

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Recent Developments in International Commercial Arbitration in Japan

November 4, 2019

Hiroshi Oda, Member, ICC International Court of Arbitration (2003-2016); Professor, Waseda University, Sir Ernest Satow Professor of Japanese Law Studies, University College London; Attorney at law, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, Japan

The Future of the US – Japan Alliance: Advancing the Vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific

April 9, 2019

Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University; and former National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump

Fukushima -- Legal Implications

March 28, 2019

Takeshi Fujitani, Associate Professor, University of Tokyo, Institute of Social Science

Making Sense of Japan's Public Debt Puzzle

March 25, 2019

Takeshi Fujitani, Associate Professor, University of Tokyo, Institute of Social Science

Current State of the U.S.-Japan Alliance

March 14, 2019

with Ambassador to the U.S. from Japan, the Honorable Shinsuke J. Sugiyama, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the United States

Constitutional Reform in Japan: Prospects, Process, and Implications

March 13, 2019