Third Party Mediation Archives - understand-culture

The Satsuma-Chōshū Alliance

On the 21st day of the first month of 1866, the rival domains of Satsuma and Chōshū concluded an alliance in Kyoto. Komatsu Tatewaki and Saigō Takamori represented Satsuma. Kido Takayoshi represented Chōshū. Japanese reference works name Sakamoto Ryōma and Nakaoka Shintarō of Tosa as the men who mediated between the two domains.

The cautious Kido then asked Ryōma to confirm the terms in writing. Ryōma wrote his endorsement in red ink on the back of Kido’s letter.

In 2018, the historian Machida Akihiro argued that Ryōma was not the mediator. In his view, Komatsu and Kido had settled the terms a few days earlier, and Ryōma came as a witness.

Envoy to Sunpu

In early 1868, the army of the new government was advancing on Edo. Katsu Kaishū, who negotiated for the shogunate, sent the retainer Yamaoka Tesshū ahead to Sunpu, today’s Shizuoka. On the ninth day of the third month, Yamaoka met Saigō Takamori, a staff officer of the imperial army.

Katsu and Saigō then met on the 13th and 14th of the month at the Satsuma residence in Mita, Edo. Edo Castle was handed over without a battle.

Each Loses One Ryō

In a well-known tale, a man finds three ryō and brings the money to its owner. The owner refuses it. Money that he has lost, he says, is no longer his. Neither man will keep it. The magistrate Ōoka Echizen adds one ryō of his own and gives each man two. Each of the three loses one ryō.

The tale is called sanpō ichiryō zon, three sides each lose one ryō. It is one of the Ōoka sabaki, the judgments of Ōoka, and it is almost entirely invented.

Conciliation Before Divorce

In Japan, a couple who cannot agree on a divorce cannot, as a rule, go straight to a lawsuit. They must first apply for chōtei, conciliation, at the family court. This principle, chōtei zenchi shugi, rests on Article 257 of the Domestic Relations Case Procedure Act. Only when conciliation fails does a divorce suit follow.

A conciliation committee hears the circumstances from both sides. The two parties wait in separate waiting rooms and enter the conciliation room together or in turn.

Labor Mediation

Japan’s Labor Relations Adjustment Act, in force since 1946, sets out ways to settle labor disputes through a third party: assen, mediation, chōtei, conciliation, and chūsai, arbitration. Article 13 describes the mediator’s task. The mediator mediates between the parties, confirms the main points of both sides’ claims, and works to resolve the dispute.

Under Article 18, conciliation is carried out by a committee of representatives of employers, of workers and of the public interest.

The Vocabulary of Mediation

Chūsai (仲裁): arbitration, mediation. A dictionary defines it as stepping in between parties who are in conflict, smoothing things over and helping them make peace.

Ujigami (氏神): the guardian deity of a family or place. A major dictionary of Japanese lists one further sense: a savior, especially someone who mediates a quarrel.

Scholars Between Narita and Its Farmers

For decades, the building of Narita Airport divided the national government and the farmers of Sanrizuka. In November 1991, the government, the airport authority, Chiba Prefecture and the opposition league met together for the first time. The meeting, the Narita Airport Problem Symposium, was hosted by a group of scholars, the Sumiya research group.

The symposium and a later round table ended in the group’s findings, the Sumiya shoken. In January 1995, after a report to the cabinet, the government issued a letter that again expressed its regret.

Civil Conciliation

Article 1 of Japan’s Civil Conciliation Act of 1951 states its purpose: to resolve civil disputes through mutual concession by the parties, in a way that is reasonable and fits the actual circumstances.