Diplomacy is a series of crises, and the navigational beacon for a nation is international law. This book is a collection of articles on six selected international legal issues concerning Japan. It addresses various issues, including self-defence, post-war legal issues, chemical weapons, the law of the sea, consular immunities, and hijacking. It is a legal documentary through which the reader can look into the minds of Japanese officials challenged by one crisis after another.
As a coherent whole, this book ably represents “Japan’s Practice of International Law” and remarkably portrays international law in action from a Japanese practitioner’s perspective.

Over more than four decades of a diplomatic career, Ambassador Horinouchi has been charged with legal affairs and treaties portfolios several times, in addition to Asian affairs and international intelligence analysis. Horinouchi is a graduate of Tokyo University and attended Nanjing University in China and Harvard Graduate School. He has been a lecturer on international law at Waseda University’s Graduate School of Law.

Contents

Prologue
Chapter I: Security and the Right of Self-Defense. 8 Hours on September 11
Chapter II: The End of the War. How World War II ended in Asia
Chapter III: The Remnants of War: Chemical Weapon. Poisonous Gas Accident in Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province
Chapter IV: Waters. Spy Vessel Incident in the Southwest Waters of Kyushu
Chapter V: Consular Affairs. Japan-China Consular Agreement: Trajectory from the Shenyang Consulate-General Incident
Chapter VI: Human Rights of a Hijacker. CAAC Flight Hijacking Incident
Epilogue