Photo/Illutration Mineichiro Adachi (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Post-harvest rice fields spread before my eyes in the town of Yamanobe in Yamagata Prefecture, the hometown of legal expert Mineichiro Adachi (1869-1934).

Amid the escalation of Russia’s “revenge” against Ukraine, I was there in the hopes of connecting with the moral core of this outstanding jurist who believed in the rule of law and order.

Adachi was a prominent diplomat and international lawyer in pre-World War II Europe.

The thatch-roofed home of his birth was still standing. Inside, his handwritten “tanka" poems were on display. One went to the effect, “Reminiscing about springtime/ In my hometown/ My heart aches/ With desire to visit/ My parents’ grave.”

“He was feeling nostalgic, having no time to visit his parents’ grave on his last trip back to Japan,” explained Tsuguo Sato, 88, a member of the local history study group who guided me around.

Adachi’s tight schedule owed to the impending election of judges to the Permanent Court of International Justice, established in The Hague in 1922.

Having served as a diplomat in Europe during World War I, he was said to have become convinced that an international conflict must be settled in court, never on the battlefield.

He ran in the judges’ election, won the largest number of votes, and, in 1931, became the first Asian to preside over the Permanent Court of International Justice.

At his first conference as the president, Adachi called on fellow judges to remain firmly committed to their mission, saying to the effect, "Principles are eternal and institutions remain, but humans change.”

But after the Manchurian Incident in 1931, Japan declared its withdrawal from the League of Nations. Adachi’s health started to deteriorate and he died in the Netherlands in 1934.

“Caught in a dilemma between (service to his) country and his own convictions, he must have suffered greatly,” noted Sato.

After repeating mistakes during World War II, the world created new institutions, namely the United Nations and the International Court of Justice.

But war has not been eradicated. In the Ukrainian crisis, the U.N. Security Council has fallen into dysfunction, and Russia refuses to obey cease-fire orders issued by the International Court of Justice.

Is there any way we can seek peace in the presence of a national leader who ignores law and order?

I imagined hearing, from the Zao mountain ranges, Adachi’s command: “Keep seeking.”

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 12

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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