61061    In response to the cases of unqualified judicial apprentices being engaged in potentially illegal activities such as pretrial hearings and delivery of opening statements, the Legal Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court decided to take an unusual step in issuing a notice by the 31st to the prosecution, the bench, and the bar not to let judicial apprentices give opening statements, as "it is not appropriate."

61062    In addition, the Institute will repeat its request for "observation of the six principles of legal training," which are criticized as existing merely in name.

61063    The Japan Federation of Bar Associations too is increasingly endorsing the view that delivery of opening statements by judicial apprentices is a deviation from accepted criminal proceedings and it intends to investigate, through local bar associations in Japan, how legal training is actually conducted, including the training method for pretrial hearings.

61064    It aims to ensure that in future no request from the prosecution side to have their judicial apprentices read out opening statements should be granted.

61065    This is a move to review the current legal training method.

61066    At Morioka District Court, in one of the cases brought to light, it appears that the prosecutor requested the judge to allow delivery of the opening statement by a judicial apprentice and the judge granted that request with consent from the defendant and the defense counsel.

61067    The Japan Federation of Bar Associations said that each bar association should consult with concerned local public prosecutor's offices for legal training to be based on the six principles, for example, judicial apprentices should sit in while prosecutors are conducting pretrial hearings.

61068    As delivery of the opening statement by a judicial apprentice could pose a legal problem, we would like to clearly inform our view to all the parties concerned.

61069    The implementation date is still unknown.

61070    The abolition of the nationality clause has no precedence at the prefectural level, though four designated cities of Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama and Kawasaki have set up interpreters and other professional posts free of the nationality clause.

61071    According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, about thirty percent of all municipalities in the nation, including Kochi and Otsu Cities, have abolished the nationality clause.

61072    According to the Ministry of Justice, registered foreign residents in Japan number 1,320,748 as of the end of 1993.

61073    In Kochi Prefecture, there are 2,034 registered foreign residents as of June 1994.

61074    Happy New Year!

61075    The year 1995 has begun with a new calendar and fresh air, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of war's end, and witnessed a number of elections, including the unified local elections.