was a former justice minister of Japan and

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Tokyo University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

. He was a leading figure in civil procedure scholarship.

Career

Mikazuki was an attorney and law professor. He was a member of the Arbitration Law Study Group who drafted the arbitration law in 1989. He was appointed justice minister under the non-Liberal Democratic Party

Hosokawa Morihiro is a Japanese politician and noble who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1993 to 1994, leading a coalition government which was the first non- Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government of Japan since 1955. After a funding scandal in early 1994, he ...

cabinet, although he was not a politician. He replaced Masaharu Gotoda as justice minister. He was in office from 9 August 1993 to 28 April 1994. His successor was Shigeto Nagano. Mikazuki reported that anyone who had plans to abolish

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

could not accept an appointment as justice minister. He approved executions for four death row inmates and believed in the deterrent effect of capital punishment. Four executions were carried out during his term in Autumn 1993. He retired from politics in November 2010.

Death

Mikazuki died on 14 November 2010.

Awards

Mikazuki received the

Order of Culture The is a Japanese order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japan's art, literature, science, technology, or anything related to culture in general; recipien ...

award in Tokyo on 7 November 2007. He was also recipient of the following national awards: Medal with Purple Ribbon (1981),

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest ...

(1995; First Class), and

Person of Cultural Merit is an official Japanese recognition and honor which is awarded annually to select people who have made outstanding cultural contributions. This distinction is intended to play a role as a part of a system of support measures for the promotion of ...

(2005). He was awarded the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

in 1990.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mikazuki, Akira 20th-century Japanese lawyers 20th-century scholars 1921 births 2010 deaths Independent politicians Ministers of Justice of Japan Recipients of the Order of Culture Academic staff of the University of Tokyo Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany