was a Japanese politician who served as the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

and

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

at the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

. 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

under the non-Liberal Democratic Party

Hosokawa Cabinet The Hosokawa Cabinet governed Japan from August 9, 1993, to April 28, 1994 under the premiership of Morihiro Hosokawa. In Japan, his administration is generally referred to as a representative example of non-LDP and non-JCP Coalition. Political ...

, 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 and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

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 (decoration), order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japanese Art, Japan's art, Japanese Literature, literature, science, technolog ...

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 (distinction), 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 c ...

(1995; First Class), and

Person of Cultural Merit is an official Japanese recognition and honour 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 (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

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