Secretarial Division

Is in charge of secretarial work needed for the Minister and Vice-Ministers and, among others, it is responsible for inter-office adjustment of word among all departments of the Ministry. This Division also takes charge of the business arising from the daily proceedings of the Diet for the convenience of other departments, while it engages in public information activities and international affairs related to the work of the Ministry, including the business accompanying the dispatch of officials overseas.

Personnel Division

Is in charge of matters pertaining to the number of officials and employees of the Ministry as fixed by law, and their service conditions including appointment and retirement. In addition, the Division is responsible for the business relating to the National Bar Examination Commission, which includes the business to conduct the examinations.

Finance Division

Is in charge of all matters of the Ministry's finance programs such as formulation of the Minisitry's budget (subject to the approval of the Ministry of Finance), and its execution and preparation of the statement of the final accounts. It is also responsible for audit of the settlements of the account, and for matters related to the revenues and expenditures of the Ministry.

Facilities Division

Is in charge of the business pertaining to the control of state property under the control of the Ministry of Justice, such as planning, designing and supervising construction projects as well as repairing and maintenance of the facilities of the Ministry under its control. As the division solely retain the expertise of designing custodial facilities, it has the responsibilities of developing technology in facilities and equipment design of custodial institution. In response to the request, the division has been extending the technical assistance to developing countries in the field of designing custodial facilities.

Welfare Division

Is in charge of matters relating to the welfare of the employees of the Ministry and the promotion of the efficiency of their work, such as administration of the Ministry's KYOSAI-KUMIAI (Cooperative Association of Employees), pension and the accident compensation program of the Ministry.

Litigation Divisions

Litigation Divisions (Litigation Planning and Coordination Division, Civil Litigation Division, Administrative Litigation Division, Tax Litigation Division, Director of the Property Litigation Division) handle civil suit s and administrative suits in which the State is a party. These divisions are also responsible for dealing with matters concerning other civil and administrative suits involving local public entities, independent administrative institutions and other public juristic persons as prescribed by Cabinet orders in cases where such suits are found to be related to the interests of the State.

The Judicial System Department

The Judicial System Department is in charge of the work of conducting research and studies on the judicial system, and drafting of laws and regulations on the judicial system; the work of collecting, filing, compiling and publishing of data on laws and regulations, court precedents and legal affairs; administration of the Legislative Council of the Ministry of Justice; administration of the Ministry of Justice Library and the Ministry of Justice Museum-Message Gallery; compilation of statistics on the work handled by the Ministry; matters concerning comprehensive legal support; matters concerning law-related education; matters concerning the qualification of attorney at law (bengoshi) certified by the Minister of Justice; matters concerning registered foreign lawyers as "Gaikoku-Ho-Jimu- Bengoshi"; matters concerning the examination of license and authorization and the supervision of the claim management and collection companies(servicers); and matters concerning the certification of private dispute resolution services.

Regarding the judicial system

The Ministry is responsible for drafting and improving the laws and regulations concerning the organization, power, fixed number of personnel and territorial jurisdiction of the courts, judges' compensation, prosecutors' salaries, the national bar examination, attorneys-at-law and registered foreign lawyers. The Ministry is also in charge of such laws as the Comprehensive Legal Support Law, which aims at creating a society where information and services necessary for the resolution of legal disputes are readily available, and the Act on Promotion of Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution which was established in 2004.

Preparation of various statistical data

Apart from the above work of revising basic laws, the Ministry is in charge of the preparation of statistics on the work handled by the Ministry. (Ministry of Justice Statistics)

The Ministry of Justice Statistics are composed of "civil affairs statistics" on the number of cases of registration of various categories handled by the regional legal affairs bureaus or district legal affairs bureaus and others; "criminal statistics" showing the number of criminal cases handled by the public prosecutors offices; "correctional statistics" related to the number of offenders committed to correctional institutions such as prisons, juvenile training schools, the nature of their crimes and personal records; "rehabilitation statistics" concerning the probationers and parolees handled by the regional parole boards and probation offices; and "statistics on immigration control" relating to immigration control in Japan. All of the aforementioned statistics have been published as a monthly report on the Ministry of Justice website and so on.

Attorneys-at-law

An attorney at law is a legal expert who is entrusted with　the mission of protecting the fundamental human rights of　people and achieving social justice. The duties of an attorney　at law, upon the request of others,　shall be to engage　in acts relating to lawsuits, cases not involving litigation,　and objections, appeals, and other petitions against　administrative agencies and other general legal services.

Attorneys at law come under the supervision of the Japan　Federation of Bar Associations and local bar associations to　which they belong and do not come under the supervision　of any administrative agency of the government.

In principle, in order to obtain the qualification of attorney-at-law, a person is required to pass the legal apprentice training course run by the Supreme Court after passing the national bar examination. However, the system of giving the qualification of attorney-at-law based upon recognition by the Minister of Justice to those who have acquired a certain level of actual legal business experience in the corporate field after passing the national bar examination was newly introduced in April 2004, and the Ministry of Justice is the administrative agency with jurisdiction over this system.

Gaikoku-Ho-Jimu-Bengoshi

The Japanese system of accepting foreign lawyers is designed to permit persons qualified as lawyers in foreign states to handle specific legal business in Japan, without taking any qualification examination anew.

Under the Act on Special Measures Concerning the Handling of Legal Services by Foreign Lawyers,as "Gaikoku-Ho-Jimu-Bengoshi". These lawyers become registered foreign lawyers after obtaining approval from the Minister of Justice and having their names listed in the register kept by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for work concerning “approval of qualifications for 'Gaikoku-Ho-Jimu-Bengoshi'.

Claim management and collection companies (servicers)

As an exception to the Attorney Act, in order to settle the matter of the handling of bad debts, and thereby contribute to the sound development of our national economy, the Act on Special Measures Concerning Claim Management and Collection Businesses (Servicer Act; Act No. 126 of 1998) was enforced on February 1, 1999.

Servicers licensed by the Minister of Justice are allowed to manage and collect specified monetary claims provided for by the Servicer Act.

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for examining and screening these servicers before giving them a license and the Ministry officials in charge may enter and inspect them to secure the appropriate operation.

Certified Dispute Resolution Business Operators

In consideration of the increasing importance of alternative dispute resolution owing to the changes in the social and economic climate at home and abroad, the Act on Promotion of Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution was enforced on April 1,2007, as a part of justice system reform. It has introduced a system in which the Minister of Justice certifies private dispute resolution services (conciliation services performed by private businesses on a civil dispute) if they are recognized as proper, by satisfying the statutory criteria and requirements.

Certified dispute resolution business operators (private businesses certified by the Minister of Justice) are engaged in resolving disputes, utilizing their professional knowledge and experiences, in order to accurately meet the diverse needs of the people.

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for work concerning the certification of private dispute resolution services.