Message from the Dean

I decided to go to graduate school in the second semester of my third year Faculty of Law. At that time, I consulted with my seminar professor at the time and the professors who would eventually supervise me at graduate school, and I still remember that when I asked my seminar professor why he was researching futures trading law, he said something along the lines of, "It's interesting because it's where human desires are most acutely expressed." I currently specialize in labor law, but this is not just because I want to pursue justice in labor relations, but because I am interested in the structure of workers and employers, who on the one hand share an interest in the development of companies and industry, but on the other hand face a conflict of interest between the costs of management and securing a livelihood, which is a microcosm of the complexity of human society, and I continue to explore this state of affairs. I think that the desire to know the roots of what it means to be a person and what human society is, and intellectual curiosity, are major motivations that drive people to go to graduate school and become researchers.

However, today's graduate schools are beginning to have a broader meaning and role than just training researchers (as in the past). It is not necessarily about pursuing a career as a researcher and pursuing that career, but rather there is also the path of acquiring more specialized professional knowledge and skills through specialized research activities at graduate school, or utilizing them in professional or social activities. In the future society, where information technology will progress to a high level and technologies such as AI will develop, I believe that the time is approaching when specialized experience at graduate school, which cannot be obtained through undergraduate experience alone, will play an important role in living as a professional or member of society.

Aoyama Gakuin University Graduate School of Law offers three majors: Department of Private Law, Department of Public Law Law (Master's and Doctoral Programs), and Department of Business Law (Master's Program). Department of Private Law and Public Department of Public Law accept a wide range of students who wish to set and explore a research theme from various legal fields. Faculty from each major offer classes that allow students to enjoy research methodologies that go beyond the boundaries of their research theme, and provide thorough guidance on how to proceed with research, including writing a master's thesis. In addition, for students who wish to proceed to the doctoral program after writing their master's thesis, we have a guidance system centered around their supervisor to prepare them for more advanced research.
In addition, since 2018, Department of Business Law has specialized in the "Tax Law Program," accepting a wide range of practitioners and working adults who wish to improve their expertise in tax law, and every year producing many graduates who have written master's theses of extremely high quality.
In this way, we have established a guidance system that is tailored to the goals of each graduate student, and we are a place where highly goal-oriented students gather at Aoyama Gakuin University 's Graduate School of Law. We look forward to welcoming you if you have the ambition to help us grow together.