This article analyzes how litigation, court rulings, and legal mobilization have influenced law and policy making related to death from overwork (karōshi) and suicide from overwork (karōjisatsu) in Japan over the course of half a century. It highlights the gradual, but substantial, impact of litigation and court rulings on different levels of governmental measures. By taking a longer-term perspective to assess the political effects of different stages of the judicialization process and focusing on the actors of legal mobilization—particularly, cause lawyers—this study provides a more accurate depiction of the overall process of social and legal changes observed in the recent Japanese labor law reform.

中文翻译：

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探讨针对过劳死亡和自杀的诉讼、法院裁决和法律动员：对日本劳动法改革政策制定的影响

本文分析了诉讼、法院裁决和法律动员如何影响过劳死相关的法律和政策制定（过劳死）和过度劳累自杀（苦路司）在日本已有半个世纪的历史。它强调了诉讼和法院裁决对不同级别的政府措施的渐进但实质性的影响。通过以更长远的视角评估司法化进程不同阶段的政治影响，并关注法律动员的参与者——特别是事业律师——本研究更准确地描述了所观察到的社会和法律变迁的整体过程。日本最近的劳动法改革。