Social Science Japan Journal Advance Access originally published online on March 26, 2009
Social Science Japan Journal 2009 12(1):71-99; doi:10.1093/ssjj/jyp008
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Social Science Japan Journal 12:71-99 (2009)
© 2009 Oxford University Press
Law and Community in Japan: The Role of Legal Rules in Suburban Neighborhoods
HASEGAWA Kiyoshi is an associate professor specializing in the sociology of law at Tokyo Metropolitan University. His recent publications include: ‘Chiiki Komyunitii wa Keikan-H
o Katsuy dekiruka’ (Can local communities utilize the Landscape Law?) Jurist 1314: 47–52 (2006); ‘Hmuresu no "Kyojy
-ken"’ (‘Right of residence’ of the Homeless), Toshi Jtaku Gaku 53: 29–33 (2006) and Toshi Komyunitii to H (The Urban Community and the Law), Tokyo: Tky Daigaku Shuppan-kai (2005). He can be reached at Tokyo Metropolitan University, Faculty of Urban Liberal Arts, 1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachiji-shi, Tokyo 192-0397, JAPAN, or by e-mail at k-hase{at}tmu.ac.jp
This article investigates how people utilize legal rules to conserve hospitable dwelling environments in suburban neighborhoods in Japan, through an examination of building agreements (kenchiku kytei), which are private contracts between landowners. The discussions in this paper are based on a database that includes interviews with residents and government officials, as well as responses to questionnaires administered to most of the boards of the homeowners associations in Yokohama City. My findings reveal that (a) Japanese residents often take legal rules into account when facing conflicts; (b) residents are often quite familiar with legal rules; (c) when residents discuss and settle disputes, neighborhood associations play important roles and (d) residents occasionally refer to and utilize not only legal rules but also nonlegal rules. My analysis suggests that legal rules are more ubiquitous than previously thought in Japan and that social structure has a decisive influence on the way they work.
* An earlier draft of this article was chosen to be presented at the inaugural Harvard–Stanford International Junior Faculty Forum in 2008. I would like to thank Seung Wha Chang and Eric Feldman for their detailed comments and suggestions on my draft at the forum. I am also grateful to Stewart Macaulay, Mavis Maclean, Deborah Hensler and other participants for helpful comments and to Lawrence Friedman and William Alford for organizing it.