In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and many socialist countries in East Europe drew away from its influences. Most of the countries gave up the social economic system, whose failure had been confirmed, and tried transition to a market economy. Similar things occurred also in East Asia. Under policy of economic liberalization, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been promoting transition toward a market economy and an open door policy. However, they were at once confronted with problems such as an underdeveloped legal system and inadequacies in law enforcement. Therefore they began to look to other countries for help. Japan was in East Asia the only country, from which they were able to receive help to solve the problems. In result, the legal system of the countries in transition in East Asia has been constructed on the basis of japanese legal and judicial system. Japan supported legal system reform of the countries in transition since 1996. It has been providing assistance for the drafting of various legislation and the development of human resources in the judicial sector by dispatching its experts and training legal personnel of the countries in transition. It paid great attention to the achievement of cooperation partnership with supported countries from the beginning of legal assistance. It established a joint working group, which consists of lawyers and experts of both countries. The Japanese side provided advice on the draft of various legislation and hosted many local workshops. By help of Japan were in 2004 enacted the Civil Procedure Law and the Bankruptcy Law in Vietnam and in 2005 was amended its Civil Code, which is highly regarded as the most achievement of legal assistance of Japan for the countries in transition. Finally, new regulations and amendments made them more suitable for a market economy. The goal of this paper is to investigate, to what extent ‘japanization’ of legal and judicial system in East Asia is advanced.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and many socialist countries in East Europe drew away from its influences. Most of the countries gave up the social economic system, whose failure had been confirmed, and tried transition to a market economy. Similar things occurred also in East Asia. Under policy of economic liberalization, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been promoting transition toward a market economy and an open door policy. However, they were at once confronted with problems such as an underdeveloped legal system and inadequacies in law enforcement. Therefore they began to look to other countries for help. Japan was in East Asia the only country, from which they were able to receive help to solve the problems. In result, the legal system of the countries in transition in East Asia has been constructed on the basis of japanese legal and judicial system. Japan supported legal system reform of the countries in transition since 1996. It has been providing assistance for the drafting of various legislation and the development of human resources in the judicial sector by dispatching its experts and training legal personnel of the countries in transition. It paid great attention to the achievement of cooperation partnership with supported countries from the beginning of legal assistance. It established a joint working group, which consists of lawyers and experts of both countries. The Japanese side provided advice on the draft of various legislation and hosted many local workshops. By help of Japan were in 2004 enacted the Civil Procedure Law and the Bankruptcy Law in Vietnam and in 2005 was amended its Civil Code, which is highly regarded as the most achievement of legal assistance of Japan for the countries in transition. Finally, new regulations and amendments made them more suitable for a market economy. The goal of this paper is to investigate, to what extent ‘japanization’ of legal and judicial system in East Asia is advanced.

Legal Assistance, Legal Assistance of Japan, Country in Transition, Japanization of East Asia Laws, JICA, KOICA.