Japanese Master’s Students Contributing to the Arctic Legal
Studies through the 15th Polar Law Symposium
Hiroto Kogo, ab Rena Takezoea Taichi Inai,a Akiho Shibata c

1Introduction

TheArcticiscome from professors, and the Graduate
bothphysically

Schoolandgraduate

students.

courses on “International Polar Law I” in
Japanese and “International Polar Law II” inin the Arctic legal studies. Utilizing theEnglish. GSICS is the only university inopportunities provided through the Polar

Japan that provides polar law courses atLaw Symposium and the Arctic Circle

the graduate level. In the spring semesterAssembly, this paper describes a uniqueandestablishedinresearch
Japantoof 2021, the Japanese course focused onscheme

the Antarctic Treaty System. In the fallpromotesemester of 2022, the English course

prospective Japanese early-career scholars

focused on the Arctic international law.

and practitioners to be interested in theProfessors Rachael Lorna Johnstone andArctic legal and policy issues.
2Antje Nuemann at University of Akureyri,
Iceland, were the guest lecturers, eachFirst Impetus: Credited courses atteaching two classes online on human

Kobe UniversityJapanese

studentsrightsentering

Cooperationsuch opportunity through the 2-credit

Severalimpetuses are needed for them to engage

educationalInternationalStudies (GSICS), Kobe University provides

conceptually far away from Japan and forJapaneseofprotection

andenvironmental

graduate

protection in the Arctic. The three co-schools majoring in international law wouldauthors of this paper have registered to therarely have original interests in polar law:latter course in 2022.

they are usually interested in “mainstream”
topics such as human rights law, economic“GSICS is the only university in Japan thatprovides polar law courses at the graduatelevel.”

law, environmental law, etc. The firstencounter to the polar law must necessarilya LL.M. candidate, Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies (GSICS), Kobe University Japanb Corresponding author. Email: 229i011i@stu.kobe-u.ac.jp.
c Professor and Director, Polar Cooperation Research Centre (PCRC), Kobe University, Japan87

In addition, GSICS provides a 2-credited

from April 2022 at Osaka University ofcourse on international fieldwork, in which

Economics and Law in Japan. Another hasa

professor

designsafieldworkofbecome a diplomat in Japanese Ministry ofabroadwithForeign Affairs. Similarly, a bright futureasahead is expected from those attending

minimum

10-daystay

concreteacademic

exercise,such

this year’s 15 PLS.

interviewing at international organizations,participating in United Nations treaty

3

negotiations, and attending and making
researchpresentations

atFunding from ArCS II

academic

conferences. In fall semester of 2022, an

With increasing international travellinginternational fieldwork in Iceland wascosts due to fewer flights between Asia anddesigned by the co-author of this paper,

Europe caused by COVID-19, the fuel hikewith the expected exercise to make ancaused by the Ukraine crisis, and theacademic presentation at the 15th Polar

weakening of Japanese Yen, how to finance

Law Symposium (15 PLS) and to expand

the students’ travel to Iceland had become

academic network through the Arctic Circle

an important issue. In this regard, the co-Assembly (ACA) participation. A visit toAkureyri

wasincluded

toauthors are very appreciative of theconduct

financial support provided by the Arctic

interviews at University of Akureyri andChallenge for Sustainability II (ArCS II)

Arctic Council Working Group Secretariats,

Overseas Fellowship Program. ArCS II is aCAFF and PAME. Five first-year master’sJapanese national flagship project forstudents, including the three co-authors ofArctic

this paper, and one second-year student
totrytomakemadewith

11researchInternationallawresearchauthor of this paper, implemented throughthe Polar Cooperation Research Centre(PCRC), which has become one of theIn 2015, through the same scheme, threestudents

1

program is one of them and led by the co-academicpresentations at the 15 PLS.

master’s

research,programs.

registered to this fieldwork. Four of themdecidedSecond Impetus: Money, of course!

world’s leading polar legal research hubs. 2research

The state-of-the-art Arctic legal research atpresentation at 8th Polar Law Symposium in

PCRC is fed into educational opportunities

Alaska. Today, one of them assumed anat GSICS with the ArCS II project funding,assistant professorship in international law

1 Juha Saunavaara and Fujio Ohnichi, ”Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II: Japan’s New Arctic Flagship Project”, Current

Developments in Arctic Law, Vol.9 (2021), p.40.

2 PCRC website: < https://www.research.kobe-u.ac.jp/gsics-pcrc/index.html >88

topromote

capacitybuildingmade two oral presentations: one onof

“Interim Conservation and Management

prospective early-career scholars.

Measures

The ArCS II Overseas Fellowship Programin the Arctic”. The first examined the legal

Japanese universities and other research

structure of the newly entered-into-force

institutions, as well as young practitioners

treaty,from public and private institutions, toCentral

conferences for making presentations andthe introduction of the precautionary
approach based on the “Guidelines for thetheir personal networks at the international

Reduction of Underwater Noise fromlevel. 3 This funding is on a competitive

Commercial Shipping to Address Adverse

basis based on candidates’ applications.

Impacts on Marine Life” adopted by theOwing to this funding opportunity, theInternational Maritime Organization ininternational field work in Iceland was able
several2014 to address the issue of underwater

students,

noise in the Arctic.

including the three co-authors of thisThe research on those topics and thepaper.
4FinalFisheries

Article 3. Second presentation proposed

careerprofessionals and will help them expandfor(CAO

being agreed to by all 10 Parties underexperiences will stimulate further researchrealized

Ocean

Conservation and Management Measures

Its expectation is that thesebe

ArcticArticle 5 and the importance of the Interim

expanding contacts along with fieldwork

toPreventcommercial fishing could start under

institutions for conducting research andearlytoIt examined in detail how the potential

at overseas universities and research

byAgreement

Agreement) and its “step-wise approach”.

collecting information, as well as their stay

activities

theUnregulated High Seas Fisheries in thesupport their participation in international

otherFisheries

Legal Means to Regulate Underwater Noise

early career researchers belonging toandCAO

Agreement”, and another on “Potentialprovides funding to graduate students,trips.

underImpetus:

Whatapreparation

greatforpresentations

wereintensive and time-consuming. The co-opportunity at the 15th Polar Lawauthors have started researching on theSymposium!

subject matters around mid-August, withthe guidance of their professor. They madeIn the morning of the second day of thea practice presentation before leaving

Symposium, the co-authors of this paper

3 ArCS II website: https://www.nipr.ac.jp/arcs2/e/info/essential2-2022/89

Japan,utilizinglaw

Assembly (ACA). With 2,000 participants

seminar at GSICS, with several usefulfrom both Arctic and non-Arctic states, thecomments from two other professors and a

ACA was one of the best opportunities todozen students of GSICS’ International Law

build human networks with the ArcticProgram.

theexperts. The co-authors were able toPowerPoint presentations were done inobserve the sensitive political positions ofconsultation with the professor during theChina, Korea and Japan as regards the CAO

snow storm in Akureyri, just a few days

Fisheries

before the Symposium. All these efforts

participation in breakout sessions. It wasbore fruit in the presentations, as they

useful to obtain information from theattracted several questions from the floor.

participants on the implementation of theThe co-authors were very grateful to theAgreement

friendliness of the Polar Law Symposium

Conference of the Parties at the end of

towards early-career scholars and to theNovember 2022, as none is yet available

academic encouragements received frompublicly. These experiences will be shared

its participants.

with other graduate students at GSICS inThethefinal

international

revisions

toAgreement

suchthroughasthetheirinauguralorder to further enhance interests andThroughout the two-day 15 PLS, the co-academic

authors exchanged their thoughts andstudies

regarding

Arcticinternational law at Kobe University andopinions with other participants regarding

more generally in Japan.

the Arctic and Antarctic legal and policy
issues. They were very much encouraged

In conclusion, the participation in the Polarby the participation of master’s andLaw

doctoral students from all over the world,

assistance of ArCS II Overseas Fellowshipinterested in polar legal and policy matters.

Program and the educational assistance

From interactions with them, the co-from GSICS and PCRC, enabled Japanese

authors

ofmaster’s students to identify and propose

incorporating knowledge and perspectives

solutions to the legal challenges facing thefrom other academic fields such as natural

Arctic through their research and oral

science into the research of legal study,

presentations. This is an important means

since issues in the Arctic cannot befor Japan, as a non-Arctic state, toresolved by international law alone. They

contribute to the development of Arctic

also participated in the 2022 Arctic Circle

governance based on the Rule of Law.

realizedtheimportance90

Symposium,withthefinancial