Human Rights Constitutionalism in Japan and Asia

Lawrence Ward Beer was born in Portland, Oregon on May 11, 1932. In 1966 he received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Washington, Seattle. In over fifty years of studying the constitutional law and politics of Japan and other Asian countries, he has written and lectured extensively on human rights law (e.g., Freedom of Expression in Japan, 1984). He taught at the University of Colorado, Boulder, 1966-1982, and was F.M. Kirby Professor of Civil Rights, Lafayette College, 1982-1997. Beer has chaired the Committee on Asian Law of the Association for Asian Studies and the World Association of Law Professors of the World Peace through Law Center. He received the Distinguished Asianist Award of the Mid-Atlantic Association for Asian Studies in 2003. In retirement, he lives with his wife Keiko in Boulder, Colorado, USA.

• Preface; PART I: Asia; 1 Constitutionalism in Asia and the United States; 2 Current Human Rights Issues in Asia; 3 Constitutionalism and Rights in Japan and Korea; 5 Human Rights Theory and "Freedom Culture"; PART II: Japan; 6 Japan, 1969: "My Homeism" and Political Struggle; 7 Social Patterns and Freedom of Expression; 8 Human Rgihts Commissioners (Jinken Yogo Iin) and Lay Protection of Human Rights in Japan; 9 Constitutional Revolution in Japanese Law, Society, and Politics; 10 Freedom of Expression: The Continuing Revolution; 11 Japan's Constitutional Law, 1945-1990; 12 National Security and Freedom of Expression in Japan; 13 Rejection of War: Japan's Constitutional Discourse and Performance; PART III: The Future; 14 Conclusion: Towards Human Rights Constitutional in Asia and The United States?; 15 Afterword: Asian Constitutionalism in the Twenty-First Century; Appendix: Adventures with Asia; Bibliography; Index