ABSTRACT
Japanese administrative law is in transition. Since 1868 when the new Meiji government replaced the feudal Edo-bakufu government, Japan has had a tradition of a powerful administrative branch with relatively modest legislative and judicial branches, a configuration deemed necessary in order to develop and effectively manage the country. Administrative law has played a supporting role in this framework. However, in recent years a set of new statutes has begun to establish procedural controls over governmental actions and expanded opportunities to obtain extensive judicial review.1 This can be considered a form of judicialization, expanded dispute resolution or policy-making by judicial or quasijudicial procedure2 in the judicial or administrative branch, which some see as a global trend (as described by Ginsburg (Chapter 1) and Peerenboom (Chapter 9) in this volume.
