Introduction

The Japanese Government acceded to the Convention in October 1981 and to the Protocol in January 1982. The Convention and the Protocol entered into force for Japan on 1 January 1982.4 Regrettably, actual practice relating to implementation of the Convention may be figuratively described as ‘Hotoke wo Tsukutte Tamashii Irezu (making the Buddhist image, and forgetting the soul)’; an equivalent phrase in English would be the expression ‘Ploughing the field, and forgetting the seed.’ This is not to ignore more recent developments in judicial practice and amendment of the law since the beginning of the new millennium.