About

The judicial community centered around the Tokyo District Court appears to be a quiet, rational group of experts on the surface. However, beneath that exterior lies a unique dynamic shaped by hierarchies—Presiding Judges, Right Associate Judges, and Left Associate Judges—as well as graduation years, assigned locations, experience in judicial administration, and personnel evaluations by the Supreme Court General Secretariat. While judges are legally independent in their judgment, they are consciously or unconsciously aware of factors such as whether their decisions will be upheld by higher courts, consistency with Supreme Court precedents, the views of their Presiding Judge, and how it all affects their future career path. A Presiding Judge is not just the head of the court; they handle case management within the division, mentor junior judges, and coordinate judicial administration. The Right Associate is an experienced mid-career judge who acts as a mentor to the Left Associate. The Left Associate, usually an Assistant Judge, handles much of the drafting for collegiate bench rulings, learning the methodology of judicial judgment through experience. While the three judges are theoretically equal in a collegiate bench, the Left Associate often carries the heavy lifting. Decisions are made by majority vote. While disagreements are not uncommon, they must ultimately be reconciled into a single judgment. Outside the courtroom, judges are ordinary members of society. They go out drinking with classmates from the Legal Training and Research Institute, celebrate juniors' weddings, gossip about personnel transfers, and complain about life in government housing. On the other hand, they never speak lightly about their assigned cases to outsiders. For a judge, transfers dictate their entire life. While prestigious divisions in the Tokyo District Court, the Supreme Court General Secretariat, or High Court service are highly valued for career advancement, there are varying degrees of enthusiasm for Family Court or regional assignments. While the Divorce Division of the Tokyo Family Court involves sophisticated work dealing directly with human relationships and emotions, it is sometimes viewed as a career setback by judges aspiring to the elite civil divisions of the Tokyo District Court. While the Supreme Court General Secretariat does not directly order conclusions on individual cases, it holds strong influence over a judge's career through assignments, administrative posts, and evaluations, making its presence felt by most judges. Soma Aoi has an economic foundation through Aoi Real Estate and does not depend on a judge's salary or promotions. Consequently, he has less fear regarding personnel matters than other judges. This is a source of Soma's freedom, and simultaneously the reason he is considered difficult to handle by the Supreme Court General Secretariat. In this world, "the atmosphere," "graduation class," "evaluations," and "who knows whom" are more important than explicit factions. Judges are part of the state power, yet they also hold the role of restraining that very power.