La promozione dell'ADR nel Giappone contemporaneo. Riflessioni critico-quantitative sulla litigiosità in Giappone

The theme of the Japanese attitude towards litigation and mediation has been widely debated among legal scholars in the last fifty years. However, some recent evolutions in the patterns of litigation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) are still to be studied in detail. In particular, in the last decade resort to formal litigation in Japan has dramatically increased. Many explanation of this phenomenon have been proposed: the economic downturn, some reforms in the civil procedure, the sharp increase in the number of lawyers, and – maybe – a change in the mentality of the Japanese. This paper is aimed to provide some quantitative data in order to describe as accurately as possible the present situation, and to analyze it in a critical fashion. It also takes into account some partial results of a socio-legal research currently being conducted in Japan. The paper also describes and comments one of the most important laws about the promotion of ADR in Japan and the impact said law had on the dispute resolution system as overall. The joint reading of the quantitative data, scholarly opinions and developments in the legislation renders a complex and far from univocal picture, and leaves open to the comparative lawyer the challenge to find out how much remains of the almost mythical «Japanese way» to litigation (rectius: non-litigation) in contemporary Japan.