Reflections on the Human Condition - Api-fellowships.org

Feb. 2005) or lacking a sense of ethics. (The Japan
Times, 26 May 2004) The Shareholder Ombudsman
has also attempted to change this attitude. (The Japan
Times, 27 Aug. 2002)
The Shareholder Ombudsman was organized as a
limited liability company because it could not meet the
financial requirements for establishment as an NPO. It
cannot have more than 50 members. Therefore, most of
its membership is informal. (Milhaupt: 2003, 38)
The activities of the Shareholder Ombudsman can be
treated as a mechanism to combat corruption because
it has taken legal action against the executives of
companies which have provided political donations in
violation of the Political Fund Control Law. It is no
longer easy for business executives, as part of the Iron
Triangle, to fulfill its mission to politicians. At the very
least, they have to check whether their organizations
are operating under a deficit or not in order to be
free from a shareholder suit. However, the amended
Company Law, which will come into force in 2006,
allows companies to force small-lot owners to sell their
shares back to the company. It can be a permission to
dilute or dissolve the business executives’ concern and
undermine shareholder suit. (Asahi, 29 June 2005)
Information Disclosure Request and Suit
Information disclosure laws set the ground rules for
relations between citizens and governments, national
or locally. Governments are forced to release public
documents subject to the rules and procedures
stipulated in the legislation. Citizens have exercised
their new power to monitor and hold government
officials accountable.
Armed with legal rights to demand information
disclosure law, civil society groups can play a key role
in enhancing citizen participation in government
policymaking and exercising oversight. Civil society
groups are encouraging and sustaining the trend towards
greater openness in Japan. Greater transparency and
accountability are removing the veil of secrecy that is
the cause of the endemic negligence, corruption, pork
barrel and mismanagement.
SOCIAL JUSTICE, HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL SOCIETY
401
Ref lections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity
The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows