2003 JAPAN LAW: SCHOOL RECORDS
Keywords: Education Law, School Rights, Disclosure, Freedom of Information, Supreme Court
Copyright 2004. All rights reserved Attorney Roderick H. Seeman
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In November 2003 the Supreme Court of Japan gave a decision permitting a woman to see part of her own school records. The local ward office did not want to permit the lady to see her own records and the lower courts had agreed. In 2000 the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology had said that these kinds of records in principle should be disclosed to the students, but left it up to the local authorities. In this case the Ota Ward said that letting the woman see her own school records would “cause problems” but the Supreme Court disagreed saying it would not “cause problems.” The Tokyo High Court had argued that letting students see the records would discourage teachers from giving objective reports.