Lawrence Repeta Official Web Site

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo announced his call for national elections on Monday, September 25. News reports explained that he deemed the timing right due to a recent bounce in public support triggered by threats from North Korea and by the severe weakness of the political opposition.1  .........

On March 15 of this year, the Supreme Court of Japan issued a rare decision that limits the authority of the police to conduct surveillance operations. The case involved the placement of GPS tracking devices on the vehicles of surveillance targets. According to the published Supreme Court opinion,  ...............

On Nov. 28, 2016, the Nagoya High Court overturned the acquittal of Hiroto Fujii, mayor of the Gifu city of Minokamo, sentencing him to 18 months imprisonment with labor, suspended for three years. Elected in 2013 at the age of 28, he remains Japan’s youngest mayor.

"Trials shall be held in public." Article 82 of the Constitution states this. It is thought to be a provision to ensure the fairness of trials. What is the reality of openness?

Today, the phrase "right to information" has become a powerful phrase advocated by open government activists around the world. Toby Mendel, one of the world's leaders in the open government movement, recently wrote:

An extraordinary situation has arisen in which a leader of a movement protesting against the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa to Henoko and the construction of a helipad in Takae has been detained for more than 140 days. Such long-term detention violates international human rights standards.