International Human Rights Law in Constitutional Cases: The Supreme Court of Japan

Although the Supreme Court of Japan has long been reluctant to apply international human rights law as binding law, some Justices recently referred to human rights treaties and recommendations of treaty bodies in a positive manner in constitutional cases. In particular, Justices Miyazaki and Uga's dissenting opinion provided an important theoretical bases for reference to the recommendations by the treaty bodies. Within the constitutional system of Japan, international law, regardless of its direct applicability, has domestic effect. While the recommendations are not legally binding, the executive branch is obliged to respond to human rights treaty bodies with detailed reasonings. Failure to appropriately respond to human rights treaty bodies with persuasive reasoning can indicate that domestic law has legal problems, and judiciary should take this fact into account in constitutional review.