IVR Japan		WEBSITE http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jalp/e/e-ivr-japan.html CONTACT Correspondence to the Japan Section should be sent to: Associate Professor TAKAHASHI Hiroki hirokit@komazawa-u.ac.jp Post address of the secretariat of IVR Japan: Associate Professor TKAHASHI Hiroki Faculty of Law, Komazawa University 1-23-1 Komazawa, Setagaya Tokyo 154-8525, JAPAN Phone: +81 3 3418 9206 Fax: +81 3 3418 9206
President:	SAKURAI Tetsu, professor at Kobe University, Hyogo sakurai@law.office.ne.jp
Secretary-General:	TAKAHASHI Hiroki, associate professor at Komazawa University, Tokyo hirokit@komazawa-u.ac.jp
Treasurer:	TAKIKAWA Hirohide, professor at Osaka City University, Osaka takikawa@law.osaka-cu.ac.jp
Other Members:	TSUNODA Takeshi, professor at Kansai University, Osaka KAWAMI Makoto, professor at Aoyama Gakuin Women’s Junior College, Tokyo USAMI Makoto, professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo NASU Kosuke, associate professor at Setsunan University, Osaka ADACHI Hidehiko, associate professor at Kanazawa University, Ishikawa DOI Takahiro, associate professor at Chukyo University, Aichi TORISAWA Madoka, associate professor at Kanto Gakuin University, Kanagawa

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PAST EVENTS

The 9th Kobe Lecture

IVR Japan and the Japan Association of Legal Philosophy (JALP) held the 9th Kobe Lecture at Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, on June 7, 2008; with the support of Creative Scientific Research Project “Law and Ordering of Market and Society in the Post-‘Structural Reform’ Era” at Kyoto University. The invited lecturer, Professor Cass Sunstein, then of the University of Chicago Law School, now in the Obama administration as the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, delivered a lecture entitled “Beyond Judicial Minimalism”. The Organizing Committee of the Lecture also invited two commentators, Professor Yasuo Hasebe of the University of Tokyo and Professor Makoto Usami of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, whose comments instigated a lively and stimulating discussion. After the Kobe Lecture, Professor Sunstein gave seminars in Nagoya and Kyoto, which also attracted a large audience and struck up enlightening discussion.

The 2008 Annual Conference of the Japan Association of Legal Philosophy

The 2008 Annual Conference of the Japan Association of Legal Philosophy was held at Gakushuin University, Tokyo, on November 22-23, 2008. Its main theme was “Economics and Law: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue”. The key note speech by Professor Makoto Usami emphasized the advantages of multi-faceted examination of the subject, and then was followed by four papers and five comments. Topics included conceptual study in economics and its implications for legal theory, several methods in the area of law and economics, and the analysis of relationships between the market and legal institutions.

The panelists of the symposium were as follows:
USAMI Makoto (Tokyo Institute of Technology), “Economics and Law: Concepts, Issues, and Prospects”
SUZUMURA Kotaro (Waseda University), “Pareto Efficiency, Equity, and the Social Respect for Individual Rights”
GOTO Reiko (Ritsumeikan University), “A Comment on Suzumura’s ‘Pareto Efficiency, Equity, and the Social Respect for Individual Rights’ ”
YASHIRO Naohiro (International Christian University), “The Economic Analysis of Employment Security System”
ASANO Yuki (Kinki University), “A Response to Yashiro’s Paper”
IHORI Toshihiro (University of Tokyo), “Economic Impacts on Legislation”
TANIGUCHI Koichi (Tokyo Metropolitan University), “A Comment on Ihori’s Paper”
KAMEMOTO Hiroshi (Kyoto University), “Law, Jurisprudence, and Economics: Coase’s Theory as a Key to the Questions”
OTA Shozo (University of Tokyo), “A Comment on Kamemoto’s ‘Law, Jurisprudence, and Economics: Coase’s Theory as a Key to the Questions’”
SHIMAZU Itaru (Chiba University), “An Overall Comment” These presentations were followed by a panel discussion.

Apart from the symposium, the Conference included eight papers and three workshops. The themes of the workshops were “Legal Institutions and Legal Cultures in East Asia”, “Between ‘Law and Economics’ and Legal Theory”, and “The Duty to Obey the Law”. The papers read in the symposium are to be published in The Annals of the Japan Association of Legal Philosophy 2009.