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Introduction: Political communication as political rhetoric -- Integration of conversation analysis and facial expression analysis -- Sad facial expressions mean an equivocal response -- Meanings and intentions of happy expressions -- Relationship between facial expressions, gestures, and quotations -- Different ways to use information in responses -- Quotations of others' words and episodes as political rhetoric.

Introduction: service economy and the role of innovation in services -- The world economy and the growth in service sectors -- Productivity and innovation in service sectors -- Empirical analyses -- Conclusion

The Japanese Supreme Court has been described as "the most conservative constitutional court in the world". And, though lower courts can sometimes be more active, the Japanese judiciary as a whole tends also to be referred to as conservative. However, recent developments challenge this view. In particular, Japanese courts have begun to issue rulings in favour of the rights of sexual and gender minorities on issues like same-sex marriage and gender recognition. Do these decisions suggest that the conservatism of the Japanese judiciary has been overstated – or are they signs of change?

AbstractSince the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 and the nuclear power plant accident, a number of movements have emerged in Japanese society, including the anti‐nuclear power movement and others with a variety of agendas. The social movements of the 2010s in Japan have expanded along with the spread of social networking services and have brought together a new class of people who are different from those of the established movements. This article will compare and examine the social movements of the 2010s with those of the past, as well as the function they played in the social structure. In the early 2020s, a structural crisis in the political and economic foundations of postwar Japan has become apparent. The Japanese social movements of the 2010s were movements that pressed for the transformation of the old social system as well as the transformation of the old anti‐system movements. Thus, this movement had the distinction of prefiguring a fundamental shift in the confrontational frame of reference between conservatism and progressivism that had shaped postwar Japan. This article will discuss the historical significance of the Japanese social movements of the 2010s in light of the structural factors behind the decline of the social base of both conservative and progressive forces.

The subject of this paper is the relationship between developments in ICT and financial services and legislation, with a focus on the financial market. The basic approach is as follows: the services for financial transactions are built on the latest ICT, while the legal implications are stipulated by existing financial legislation. Although the rapid development of ICT has put enormous pressure on the financial industry to innovate their services, a nation's financial legislation might show remarkable delay because of the path-dependency of lawmaking and enforcement systems. The discrepancy between the progress of ICT and delayed legislation varies by country, which reflects the relative competitiveness of financial industries and markets. Following this approach, I first show that the economic value produced by financial transactions consists of saving transaction costs. Transaction costs are basically information processing costs, which are determined by the level of ICT. Second, I explain the grand design of financial legislation and the peculiarities of Japan's system. Generally speaking, the financial legislation of a country is composed of two categories. The first category is broad such as bankruptcy laws, and the second is narrow such as security exchange laws. Third, I examine the changes in financial transactions caused by ICT advancement in various countries and compare them to development in Japan. Fourth, I focus on current changes in financial markets by introducing examples from around the world. Former financial exchanges have transformed themselves into providers of financial market infrastructures. Global regulations have also changed in accordance with this transformation. Fifth, I identify two main challenges for Japan's financial legislation in adapting to digital innovation.The first is how to design overall financial legislation, and the second is how to enforce individual legislation. I hope this paper stimulates further research and widespread construction on this theme.

In 1935, actress Shiga Akiko was arrested for an offense under the Criminal Abortion Law. From 1936 to 1937, her case generated substantial media coverage and public debate. Liberal intellectuals generally viewed Shiga as a victim of the pronatal state; her scandal provided feminists with an opportunity to analyze the relationships among working women, their work environment, and the politics of reproduction. On the pages of women's magazines, readers avidly followed Shiga's case because she was caught up in contradictory forces, as most of them were: pride in work, love for movies, fascination with celebrity culture, and normative femininity.
This essay contextualizes discursive and filmic responses to the Shiga scandal within historical processes in the late 1930s Japan. The state attempted to fully incorporate women into the nation-state as subjects for the imminent war. In order to mobilize half the population—indispensable for reproduction—without granting them full rights, various forms of negotiations, persuasions, and seductions took place. The Home Ministry increased control over the film industry by tightening censorship, particularly on representations of women. This essay demonstrates the film industry's response to the scandal, which initially took shape as Shiga's unsuccessful comeback projects, resulted in the emergence of a cycle of new seduction stories in which a heroine bears an illegitimate child and yet regains personal integrity and economic independence. This example of a compromise among commercial cinema, active women, and the state's pressure offers a new perspective on wartime Japanese film culture as a field of negotiations.

ZUSAMMENFASSUNGDas japanisches Versicherungsgesetz von 2008 (im folgenden "das Gesetz"), ist knapper als die entsprechenden Gesetzeswerke in wichtigen europäischen Staaten. Der Beitrag versucht den geringeren Umfang zu erklären, indem er die Diskussion während der Gesetzesvorbereitung, den Einfluss der Schuldrechtsreform, die Praxis der Finanzaufsicht und, insbesondere, die Entwicklungen der Rechtsprechung auf dem Gebiet des japanischen Versicherungsrechts untersucht. Das Gesetz erhält nur wenige Vorschriften, die nur für bestimmte Versicherungsarten anwendbar sind. Der Vertragsfreiheit wurde Vorrang eingeräumt, um die Produktinnovation und die Flexibilität in der Versicherungswirtschaft zu fördern. Anders als in der EU, gibt es in Japan noch heute eine Produktkontrolle ex ante. Aber deswegen sind Versicherungsprodukte in Japan seit 1995 sehr diversifiziert. Der dominante Einfluss der Aufsichtsbehörde hat verhindert, dass Regeln zu den privatrechtlichen Produktinformationspflichten in das Gesetz aufgenommen wurden. Das Gesetz enthält nur wenige Spezialregeln, wo die Regeln des allgemeinen Vertragsrechts anwendbar sind. Es war schwierig, einen weitergehenden Schutz der schwächeren Parteien in das Gesetz aufzunehmen, bevor die Schuldrechtsreform begonnen wurde. Nun hat, nach Inkrafttreten des Gesetzes, das Obergericht Tokyo versucht, in die Angemessenheitskontrolle einer AVB-Klausel (betreffend den Verzug mit der Zahlung von Versicherungsprämien) ein höheren Niveau des Verbraucherschutz zu bringen. Das Schutzniveau für die schwächere Partei in Japan wird von der Aufsichtspraxis und der Rechtsprechung bestimmt. Die Rechtsprechung des Obersten Gerichtshofs unterscheidet bei den Auslegung von AVB-Klauseln nicht zwischen Verbrauchern und kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen. Die größte Fallgruppe in der japanischen Rechtsprechung zum Versicherungsrecht betrifft die arglistige Beanspruchung von Versicherungsleistungen. Gegen derartige Ansprüche macht der Versicherer Einwendungen aufgrund verschiedener AVB-Klauseln geltend, gemäß denen Versicherer die Leistung unter leicht zu erfüllenden Voraussetzungen ablehnen zu können. Aber in solchen Fällen legen die Gerichte die AVB-Klauseln häufig einschränkend aus. Versicherer haben die Ansicht vertreten, dass der Versicherte oder der Bezugsberechtigte die Zufälligkeit des versicherten Ereignisses beweisen müsse. In den Jahren zwischen 2004 und 2007 hat aber der Oberste Gerichtshof wiederholt entschieden, dass die Beweislast insoweit beim Versicherer liegt. Die strenge Linie des Obersten Gerichtshofs war eine natürliche Reaktion auf einen umfangreichen Skandal. Die Finanzaufsicht hatte seit 2005 zahlreiche Fälle aufgedeckt, in denen entweder vorsätzlich oder fahrlässig Versicherungsleistungen rechtswidrig nicht gezahlt wurden. Dies war ein denkbar ungünstiger Zeitpunkt für die Versicherungswirtschaft, um den Gesetzgeber um die Aufnahme eines Abwehrrechts ins Gesetz zu bitten. Als Ausnahme wurde lediglich ein Kündigungsrecht des Versicherers wegen gravierender Gründe in das Gesetz aufgenommen. Dabei handelt es sich um eine halbzwingende Vorschrift, womit man einen Schutz gegenüber einer exzessiven Verteidigung des Versicherers schaffen wollte. Die Entwicklung der Rechtsprechung bei der Betrugsbekämpfung war geprägt durch die übermäßige Verteidigung der Versicherer. Es wäre deshalb missverständlich, das Verhalten der Gerichte als 'richterlichen Aktivismus' zu bezeichnen. Ob der Verbraucherschutz unter dem Gesetz weiter gestärkt werden würde, kann niemand voraussehen, ohne die Prioritäten der Finanzaufsicht und das Ergebnis der Schuldrechtsreform zu berücksichtigen. ; SUMMARYThe Japanese Insurance Act (hereafter "the Act"), enacted in 2008, is more concise than corresponding laws in major European countries. This paper tries to explain the Act's concise form by examining discussions during the Act's preparation, the influence of the reform of the law of obligations, the supervisor's regulatory practice and, above all, trends of insurance case law in Japan. The Act included a very limited number of provisions applicable only to a certain type of insurance. Freedom of contract was respected to promote product innovation and flexibility in the insurance industry. Unlike in the EU, the ex ante product control over the mass market products survives until now. Under such circumstances, the Japanese insurance market experienced diversification of products since 1995. On the other hand, the dominant influence of supervisory body prevented rules concerning product disclosure from being incorporated into the Act. The Act also does not contain specific rules where the general contract law is applicable. It was difficult to extend the protection of the weaker party in the Act before the obligation law reform was commenced. Just after the Act was enacted, the Tokyo High Court tried to set a higher standard of consumer protection by nullifying a policy clause as unfair in the case of nonpayment of premium. Thus, the level of protection for the weaker party in Japan is determined by regulatory practice and case law. Reading through the Supreme Court cases, the Court does not seem to distinguish between consumers and small and medium-size business entities when interpreting policy clauses. In Japan, the largest cluster of insurance law cases is that concerning fraudulent claims. In defending against such claims, insurers were tempted to apply a series of policy clauses which were expected to enable insurers to decline such claims under easier conditions. However, in such cases lower courts tended to restrict the literal meaning of the policy clauses. Soon insurers started to argue that the accidentality of the insured event should be proved by the insured or the beneficiary, but the Supreme Court from 2004 until 2007 repeatedly declared that the burden of proof with regard to accidentality is on the insurers. The attitude of the Supreme Court against the insurers' excessive defense was a natural response to an industry-wide scandal. In 2005 the supervisory authority detected a huge number of intentional or negligent nonpayment of insurance benefits. It was the worst period for insurers to ask the legislator to authorize their defense clauses. Among the antifraud defenses, insurers' right to rescind a contract for grave cause was exceptionally incorporated into the Act. Still, the provisions are characterized as semi-mandatory in order to create a safeguard against insurers' excessive defense seeking to discharge their duties. The trend in the anti-fraud case law was attributable to the insurers' excessive defense. It would be misleading to call the Courts' response judicial activism. Whether consumer protection will be promoted under the Act cannot be foreseen without taking the policy priorities of the supervisor and the result of obligation law reform into consideration.