Shining a Light into the Halls of Government: Achievements and Challenges in the Open Government Movement in Japan. Attorney Hiroshi Miyake, a proponent of open government in Japan and former president of the Tokyo Bar Association, will give a speech.

Book tour no. 6! "Japan's Prisoners of Conscience: Protest and Law during the Iraq War"

2023/5/5 University of Oxford (Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies) 2023/2/21 University of Hawaii (Center for Japanese Studies) 2023/2/3 University of Washington (Asian Law Center) 2022/12/23 Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (Book Break FCCJ Tokyo) 2022/12/15 University of Tokyo (Center for Business Law and Comparative Law (IBC))

I gave a lecture entitled "Japanese Courts and Spectator's Notes: My Story" in the "Constitution (Human Rights) I" class taught by Professor Yuichiro Tsuji of the Meiji University Faculty of Law.

I gave a lecture on court memo litigation at Keio University.

Professor Mari Hirayama of the Faculty of Law gave a special lecture entitled "Considerations on Japanese Criminal Trials from an American Legal Scholar" as part of her "Criminal Procedure Law" course.

There is still debate as to why Japan's COVID-19 infection rate is much lower than Western countries. Prime Minister Abe's state of emergency declarations from April 7 to May 25 were not binding, with penalties for non-compliance. Meanwhile, public health measures are also intertwined with demands to amend the Japanese Constitution, complicating the issue. By sorting through these issues, we will deepen our understanding of the current situation in Japan.