Full Description
This volume presents the first systematic account of Japanese international legal theory; edited by Japanese scholars, the volume traces thirteen influential scholars and spans over a century. It examines how theorists positioned outside international law's Western centre developed sophisticated frameworks to address tensions between Western modernity and their own experiences.
The book's central contribution proposes 'conversation'—continuous engagement that respects differences between legal traditions—as an alternative to 'dialogue', which often reproduces existing hierarchies by assuming all perspectives can be reconciled. Through detailed intellectual biographies across six historical periods, contributors reveal how Japanese scholars strategically employed legal positivism, articulated transcivilizational perspectives, and developed concepts of normative multilateralism.
Addressed at scholars of international law, legal theory, and comparative legal traditions, this volume demonstrates that the discipline's future requires genuinely reciprocal exchange where diverse perspectives can coexist productively.
Contents
Introduction - Meguro Maiko and Negishi Yota
1 SENGA Tsurutaro: Positivism against Civilizational Eurocentrism in International Law - TOYODA Tetsuya
2 YOKOTA Kisaburo: Between Value-Neutrality, and Internationalist, Pacifist, and Democratic Ideals - TANAKA Hinako
3 TAOKA Ryoichi: Doctor eximius as an steadfast origin point in Japanese tradition - FUKUSHIMA Ryoshi
4 YASUI Kaoru: From academic to activist - YAMASHITA Tomoko
5 TANAKA Kotaro: An unparalleled jurist with natural law tradition - OGURI Hirofumi
6 TABATA Shigejiro: Japan's leading authority in the 20th century on international law and its history - KANETAKE Machiko
7 SOGAWA Takeo: Anti-positivist and activist scholar - NISHI Taira
8 YAMAMOTO Soji: Thorough positivist in Japanese international law society - MORITA Akio
9 ISHIMOTO Yasuo: The 'structural transformation' of international law - WANI Kentaro
10 MATSUI Yoshiro: The social science of international law - KODERA Satoshi
11 KOTERA Akira: Struggle of international legal scholars living on the 'periphery' of international law - MEGURO Maiko
12 ONUMA Yasuaki: A transcivilisationalist international lawyer- KAKU Shun
13 MOGAMI Toshiki: An unfrenzied normative realist - NEGISHI Yota
