Osaka Gakuin University 2016-17 Fall Semester

Japan's Environmental Issues: Facing theFuture
Instructor：
Prof./Dr. Yasuhiro SHIGETA
E-mail:shigeta@ogu.ac.jp
Lesson：Monday 16:10-17:40; Wednesday 12:50-14:20
Office:Main Bldg. Room 613
Office Hours :Monday & Wednesday 12:10-12:50
Subject code : 1037

Course Description:
After the Fukushima nuclear accident, Japanese people and world
citizens have been forced to consider the pros and cons of nuclear
energy. This and other issues such as whaling, Genetically ModifiedOrganisms (GMO) foods, seabed mining, world heritage and global
warming are also those which Japan has had to urgently deal with andwhich have heavy impacts on other countries. This course looks atthese typical Japanese environmental issues in order to help students
understand Japanese and other peoples' views and make up their own
minds on these issues.
The class consists of lecture, discussion, video viewing andstudents’ presentation. Above-mentioned six topics, i.e. nuclear
energy, whaling, GMO foods, seabed mining, world heritage and global
warming, are picked up and argued. Whaling, among others, willdeeply be discussed, on the basis of the International Court of Justice(ICJ) Whaling judgment (Australia v. Japan, New Zealand intervening,
31 March 2014). Each student is expected to make two presentations
and submit two reports, one related to their own countries’
environmental issues, and the other related to those issues comparing
with Japan. Although the fundamental perspective of this course isbased on public international law (especially international
environmental law), its detailed knowledge is not necessarily required.
However, students are expected to learn the very basics of publicinternational law for making legal arguments.

Resources
The instructor will provide hand-outs for each class. Please also
refer to this instructor's book:International Judicial Control of Environmental Protection: Standard
Setting, Compliance Control and the Development of International
Environmental Law by the International Judiciary (Kluwer LawInternational, 2010)

Evaluation
The grade will be given based on the participation to the lectureand discussion (40%), two 20-30 minutes presentations (30%) andtwo 1,000 (or more) words reports (30%). Evaluation methods maychange at the instructor’s discretion depending on the class size andother factors

Notes:
Past destinations of Kyoto field trip for world heritage include
Tenryuji, Kinkakuji and Kozanji temples and Shimogamo shrine. This
year’s destination will be decided upon students’ favour.

Course Schedule:
1. Introduction: about public international law
2. Whaling: introduction and video viewing
3. Whaling: video viewing
4. Whaling: ICJ Whaling judgment — an overview
5. Whaling: ICJ Whaling judgment — viewed from Australia andNew Zealand6. Whaling: ICJ Whaling judgment — viewed from Japan
7. Whaling: ICJ Whaling judgment — overall assessment
8. Nuclear energy: introduction and video viewing
9. Nuclear energy: Fukushima accident
10. Nuclear energy: nuclear weapons
11. GMO foods: introduction and video viewing
12: GMO foods: cases and legislations
13: GMO foods: future agendas
14. Students' presentation: environmental issues in your country(1)
15. Students' presentation: environmental issues in your country(2)
16. Seabed mining: introduction and video viewing
17. Seabed mining: Japan's territorial issues － Takeshima,Senkaku, Okinotorishima and the Northern Territories
18. Seabed mining: continental shelf and deep seabed
19. World heritage: introduction and video viewing
20. World heritage: international treaties
21. World heritage: Kyoto field trip (1)22. World heritage: Kyoto field trip (2)23. Global warming: introduction and video viewing
24. Global warming: video viewing
25. Global warming: international treaties
26. Global warming: COP-22(Marrakesh[Morocco], 7-18 Nov. 2016)
27. Global warming: climate change litigation
28. Students' presentation: comparative analysis (1)29. Students' presentation: comparative analysis (2)30. Overall reflection