For over a century, the Faculty and Graduate School of Law have played a central role in the teaching and research of law and political science in Japan. Through their education and research programs, the faculty and graduate school are committed to cultivating students’ knowledge, opinion, wisdom and logical thinking, and nurturing their intellectual autonomy. The research undertaken is devoted to searching for truth through open discussion, and has consistently made valuable contributions to society by actively tackling current key issues.
Recent years have seen a number of significant changes in both the graduate school and faculty. In April 2004, the Law School was added as a new professional graduate school offering a systematic legal education program. The Legal and Political Studies Programs (LL.M. and LL.D. Programs) at the Graduate School of Law are designed for those interested in an academic career. Through the two graduate programs and the Law School Program, students are provided with the opportunity to attain both advanced research skills and practical legal training. In order to compliment the graduate programs, the Faculty of Law Program (LL.B. Program) has been streamlined to focus on basic scholarship. To increase the benefits of these dynamic organizational changes and further strengthen the educational programs, a team of legal practitioners, including judges, prosecutors and lawyers, government officials and corporate executives, work alongside the faculty members.