On Nov. 9, one of the long-discussed judicial reform laws was finally enacted. Next month a committee task force will be set up under the Cabinet to discuss its implementation. How should committee members start such a huge, long overdue task?
They might do well to begin by watching Fuji TV's Friday-night variety program, "The Judge" (7:57 p.m.), which uses supposedly real-life cases to explain the niceties of Japanese civil law. Though the committee presumably already has a grasp of civil law, the show could teach them something about the way the average person views the legal system.
The cases are dramatized in the usual amateurish variety-show manner, and then discussed by a panel of celebrities who predict which way the judgment, which is provided by an anonymous lawyer, will go.