Qualla: Supreme Court of Japan: Eight Strikes in Sixty Years

Supreme Court of Japan: Eight Strikes in Sixty Years: Introduction

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Eight. In over six decades of constitutional governance, the Supreme Court of Japan has struck down exactly eight laws on constitutional grounds. During the same period, Germany's Federal Constitutional Court struck down more than 600. The United States Supreme Court exceeded 900. India's Supreme Court surpassed 2,600. The numbers tell a story that no building can quite contain, though the building itself -- a fortress of white granite in Tokyo's Hayabusacho neighborhood -- tries. Designed by architect Shinichi Okada and completed in 1974, the Supreme Court building was selected from 217 competition entries and later won the Architecture Institute of Japan Prize for Design. Its austere geometry announces authority. What happens inside announces something more complicated: a court with the constitutional power of judicial review that almost never uses it.

Read more: Supreme Court of Japan on Qualla

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Supreme Court of Japan: Eight Strikes in Sixty Years: Born from Occupation

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. The modern Supreme Court of Japan was established through Article 81 of the Constitution of Japan in 1947, during the Allied occupation. The American legal officers of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers who drafted the constitution debated the extent of judicial authorit...

Read more: Supreme Court of Japan on Qualla

Image: Public domain

Supreme Court of Japan: Eight Strikes in Sixty Years: The Judicial Crisis

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tetsu2266, Public domain. In the 1960s and 1970s, a generational fault line cracked open within the Japanese judiciary. Younger, more liberal judges in the lower courts began issuing rulings that frustrated government ordinances, particularly those aimed at restricting anti-government demonstrations. The ...

Read more: Supreme Court of Japan on Qualla

Image: Tetsu2266 | Public domain

Supreme Court of Japan: Eight Strikes in Sixty Years: Judges the People Can Remove

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hisi21, CC BY-SA 3.0. Japan's Supreme Court has a feature found in few other countries: retention elections. Every Supreme Court justice is subject to a public vote at the first general election following their appointment. If a majority votes against a justice, they are removed from office. It has ne...

Read more: Supreme Court of Japan on Qualla

Image: Hisi21 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Supreme Court of Japan: Eight Strikes in Sixty Years: Granite Authority

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit UK in Japan- FCO, CC BY 2.0. The Supreme Court's current home is a product of postwar ambition. The court originally intended to occupy the building of the former Supreme Court of Judicature, the highest court during the Imperial Japan era, but that structure had been largely destroyed in World War II. A tem...

Read more: Supreme Court of Japan on Qualla

Image: UK in Japan- FCO | CC BY 2.0