表題番号：2025C-228
日付：2025/11/20
研究課題Legal Mobilizations and Energy Transitions: Comparative Legal, Political, and Social Dynamics
| 研究者所属（当時） | 資格 | 氏名 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| （代表者） | 国際学術院 国際教養学部 | 講師 | サラ アドリエンヌ ユミコ |
- 研究成果概要
- Building on the findings of the 2024 Tokuteikadai project Governing Energy Transition Conflicts, this follow-up study focused more closely on the evolving landscape of strategic litigation in Japan, particularly in relation to nuclear reprocessing policy. Anchored in the empirical case of Rokkasho village and the ongoing litigation against the nuclear fuel cycle, the project examined how legal mobilization challenges state-led energy policy through claims grounded in environmental justice, intergenerational responsibility, and procedural fairness. This research deepened the analysis of strategic litigation by integrating a socio-legal reading of the Rokkasho case. Drawing on fieldwork in Aomori Prefecture and interviews with lawyers, plaintiffs, regulatory authorities, and civil society actors, the project explored how litigation against the Rokkasho reprocessing plant reveals the interplay between technopolitical decision-making and legal challenges. Theoretically, the study engaged critically with Japanese socio-legal scholarship in order to analyze how legal strategies evolve in response to shifting political, regulatory, and normative contexts. Two major dissemination outcomes marked this project. First, the international conference “Strategic Litigation in the Fields of Energy and Climate in Japan, France, and Germany” was held in October 2025 at FernUniversität in Berlin, continuing the collaborative dialogue initiated at the November 2024 Waseda symposium. This conference brought together legal scholars, energy policy experts, and activists to debate the normative stakes and strategic orientations of litigation across jurisdictions. Second, a peer-reviewed article titled “Between Law and Policy: Rethinking Judicialization through Japanese Socio-Legal Thought” was accepted for publication in Asiatische Studien / Études Asiatiques. The article situates Japanese energy litigation within broader debates on judicialization, legal pluralism, and institutional responsiveness, offering an original contribution to both area studies and comparative socio-legal research. Additional outputs, including a second journal article and a co-authored volume, are currently in preparation.