ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT Japan is well-known for its small number of lawyers. In the late 1990s, there
was a justice system reform movement. This resulted in a governmental agenda to
substantially increase the lawyers’ number. The profession’s population then rapidly
increases. The pace of the reform has however recently been slowed down, although the full
implementation of the reform and its target has not yet been achieved. Why had the
number of lawyers remained small for five decades after the World War II despite Japan’s
economic development? Why was there a justice system reform movement in the late
1990s? Why has the pace of reform been slowed down recently? Who controlled/controls the
size of the legal profession in Japan? This paper will analyse these issues.
