TSUJI YUICHIRO    Department   Undergraduate School  , School of Law    Position   Professor
Language	Japanese
Publication Date	2022/03
Type	Academic Journal
Peer Review	Peer reviewed
Title	Political Power and the Limits of Academic Freedom in Japan in the Era of Covid-19
Contribution Type	Sole-authored
Journal	Australian Journal of Asian Law
Journal Type	Another Country
Publisher	University of Melbourne
Volume, Issue, Page	pp.117-130
Total page number	14
Authorship	Lead author
Details	This article examines the Japanese government's response to Covid-19 from the perspective of academic freedom in constitutional jurisprudence. Academic freedom, which aims to maintain a certain tension between scientific research and politics, is constitutionally guaranteed in Japan. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity for the Japanese government to exclude critics of its policy responses from expert advisory bodies, both its own recently established Covid-19 expert subcommittee and the long-standing Science Council of Japan. This article argues that the government’s actions violate the constitution protection of academic freedom and are a part of a wider trend whereby the government exploits its ‘personnel’ or ‘appointive’ power to ensure support for its policies, and that this has serious implications for the rule of law.