In Search of a Modern Confucius for Effective Teaching in Law : A Trial Project to Promote Interactive Learning in Taiwan (松浦好治教授退職記念論文集)
This paper observes and reviews the progress of interactive learning in a Taiwan eConfucius Drama Classroom. Based on accumulated findings in a law classroom of blended learning, an innovative pedagogy is introduced to promote conversational teaching with passive students. The Socratic pedagogies may have led the western movements towards interactive learning. Given a different educational heritage in Taiwan, the constructivist teaching value may be realised with culturally situated methods to achieve Socratic ends. The ideas of “guided independent learning” are thus proposed with the back-up of filed findings. In the classroom of a modern Confucius, the teacher remains to be respected, yet learning-centred pedagogies are adopted to lead the students to become active and reflective learners.
U.S. Legal Education Methods and Ideals: Application to the Japanese and Korean Systems
Over the past decade, Japan and Korea have remodeled their legal education systems. As both countries struggled to counteract the economic malaise encountered in the mid-1990s, policy makers turned to the law for solutions. Japan and Korea devised and implemented substantial legal reforms. To further these reforms, both countries decided to increase their lawyer populations and implement “American-style” professional law schools designed to enhance lawyer competency and quality. The new professional law schools also constituted a response to criticism and dissatisfaction with the abstract nature of traditional legal education in both countries. In Japan and Korea, legal education at the university level has traditionally been an academic affair. Although many Japanese and Korean college students have engaged in legal studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels, university studies have not directly related to bar examination preparations or practical legal skills training. Rather, undergraduate law departments have taught general theory and legal principles. The graduate study of law has generally focused on raising academicians, instead of legal professionals. Most law graduates never become licensed attorneys. In fact, in the past, a law degree has not been required to sit for the Japanese or Korean national bar examinations. Japan and Korea have traditionally maintained very small and elite lawyer populations, and bar examination passage rates have typically averaged around three percent. With the adoption of “American-style” professional law schools and reconfigured educational missions, Japan and Korea face the challenge of implementing new methodologies and ideals, some of which have been successfully used by U.S. law schools for over a century. Having rolled out professional law schools in April 2004, Japan is already five years into its experiment. It is struggling. Korea just recently implemented its new system in March 2009, and its challenges lie ahead. This Article explores the fundamental strengths and weaknesses of American legal education and training, provides an overview of the Japanese and Korean legal systems, and examines how Japan and Korea might maximize success and overcome challenges now that each country has decided to sculpt their legal education systems on the American model. If done correctly, Japan and Korea stand to benefit from the adoption of many of the ideals, methodologies, programs, and extra-curricular activities associated with an “American-style” legal education. At the same time, however, U.S. law schools are imperfect and require improvement. As such, Japan and Korea need to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of the American legal education system and adapt their professional law schools accordingly.
The Rebirth of Japan's Petit Quasi-Jury and Grand Jury Systems: A Cross-National Analysis of Legal Consciousness and the Lay Participatory Experience in Japan and the U.S.
This is a unique moment in the history of the Japanese legal system, as the Japanese Government decided to introduce “Saiban-in Seido” (or a petit quasi-jury system) and will begin its first trial in 2009. The introduction of a first quasi-jury trial also marks the start of yet another newly revised grand jury system called “Kensatsu Shinsakai” (also known as the Prosecutorial Review Commission (hereinafter PRC)). The revised PRC law in 2004 mandated that the resolution be given a legally binding status, and that the law be put into effect in May 2009 when the first quasi-jury trial begins in Japan.This article examines the emergence of Japan’s twin democratic system of lay participation in legal decision making, i.e., a petit quasi-jury and PRC grand jury systems. While much attention has been paid to the petit quasi-jury system, this article argues that the newly revised grand jury system (i.e., the PRC system) will have far greater impact in democratizing the criminal process and building broader public confidence in the system of justice in Japan. While the petit quasi-jury consists of both lay and professional judges to determine final verdicts and appropriate sentences, the PRC is solely composed of eleven randomly chosen citizens from the local community. The system is similar to that of America's civil grand jury in examining and inspecting the proper functioning of local public offices including the DA's office. Also, similar to the criminal grand jury, the PRC also has an influence on the decision to indict.This article also examines civilian legal participation and its impact on legal consciousness in Japan and the U.S. While past research argues that Japanese citizens share a strong sense of obedience to legal authority and prefer a bench trial to an adversarial jury trial, this article argues that the experience of civic legal participation increases the level of legal consciousness and leads to people’s willingness to participate in the legal system, such as the quasi-jury and PRC trials. In order to examine the impact of legal experiences on legal consciousness, those who served in the PRC in Japan and jury trials in American were contacted and their legal experience was examined. The study found that both PRC members and American jurors were more willing than those without legal experience to serve on juries, perceived fewer obstacles in serving on juries, and had more confidence in popular legal participation. They also developed greater confidence in ordinary people’s ability to make a fair and just decision. This article also reports a number of important findings from the cross-national data collected in Japan and the U.S. The present research will hopefully provide helpful information to build an effective system of civic lay participation in Japan, as well as in other East Asian nations.