Since the 1990s, the Japanese social structure has been changing mainly due to economic globalization. The gap between rich and poor has been widened. The economic policy of the government that tries to introduce the market-competition principle into all sectors in order to revive economic growth is promoting such social change. It seems illusionary that either activating market competition or the reconstruction of the welfare state could revive economic growth. Instead, we should consider a transformation from an industrial to a sustainable society as an inevitable course of social development in the twenty-first century. In 2015, the Japanese Association of the Sociology of Law (JASL) held a symposium entitled “Law and Legal Science in the Transformation to Sustainable Society” during its annual meeting. The main issue was which role legal studies can/must play in such a transformation. I think there are two different approaches. One is to establish the “sustainable principle” as a legal principle like the “precautionary principle” in environmental law. The other approach is to reconsider and reconstruct fundamental legal categories of modern law, which have supported industrial society as its legal infrastructure. This approach will be the subject of the paper. I will deal with the case of property rights to agricultural land.

中文翻译：

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二十一世纪亚洲法律研究的新挑战：迈向可持续发展的社会

自 1990 年代以来，日本的社会结构一直在发生变化，主要是由于经济全球化。贫富差距拉大了。政府试图将市场竞争原则引入所有部门以重振经济增长的经济政策正在推动这种社会变革。激活市场竞争或重建福利国家能够重振经济增长似乎是虚幻的。相反，我们应该将工业社会向可持续社会的转变视为二十一世纪社会发展的必然过程。2015年，日本法律社会学学会（JASL）在其年会期间举办了题为“向可持续社会转型的法律和法律科学”的研讨会。主要问题是法律研究可以/必须在这种转变中发挥什么作用。我认为有两种不同的方法。一是将“可持续原则”确立为与环境法中的“预防原则”一样的法律原则。另一种方法是重新考虑和重构现代法律的基本法律类别，这些法律类别支持工业社会作为其法律基础。这种方法将成为本文的主题。我将处理农业用地产权案件。支持工业社会作为其法律基础。这种方法将成为本文的主题。我将处理农业用地产权案件。支持工业社会作为其法律基础。这种方法将成为本文的主题。我将处理农业用地产权案件。