Judges
The quality of the decisions in refugee cases reflected the simple fact that judges lacked
experience with the subject matter. By 1999, only 48 court proceedings relating to refugee status
were recorded. The lack of experience deprived the judges of the opportunity to evolve their legal
consciousness in examining refugee cases and adapt appropriate legal rules and techniques from
other state parties. For Japanese refugee law judges, the chance to think seriously and comparatively
about the compatibility, adaptability and universality of refugee law was also limited.
The deficiency in the training and experience of judges in international human rights law is also
relevant to the quality of decisions. Attorneys in human rights cases have complained of the lack of
understanding by Japanese judges of international human rights law. Japanese judges are
inadequately trained in international law, and even less so in international human rights law. To avoid
awkwardness in an area with which they are unfamiliar, courts sometimes utilise interpretations from
municipal law and apply domestic standards, principles and reasoning to a comparable situation in
international human rights cases. Consequently, the courts tend to dismiss arguments based on
international human rights law without detailed analysis of their substance. 43
Refugee law was not immune from this tendency. Without any question or analysis, for instance,
Japanese courts seemingly assumed that the legal onus and standard of proof in refugee
determination was the same as that of domestic Japanese law, in spite of the differing nature of
refugee law. The lack of knowledge or awareness of the unique principles of credibility assessment in
refugee cases also had its roots in this tendency.