Photo/Illutration Masami Okino (Provided by the University of Tokyo)

The government announced the appointment of Masami Okino to the Supreme Court, making her an unprecedented fourth female justice.

Okino, 61, dean of the University of Tokyo’s Graduate Schools of Law and Politics and dean of the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law will succeed Katsuya Uga, 69, a scholar-educated justice who will retire on July 20.

The appointment, which was decided at a June 6 Cabinet meeting, brings to four the number of women among the 15 Supreme Court justices, the largest number ever.

Okino is a native of Nara Prefecture and a graduate of the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law. She specializes in civil law and is a member of the civil law subcommittee of the Legislative Council of the Justice Ministry.

The number of female justices has remained at two or three in recent years. Currently, there are three: Justice Kazumi Okamura, 67, a former administrative officer; Justice Eriko Watanabe, 66, and Justice Mitsuko Miyagawa, 65, both former lawyers.

The only female justices to date have come from administrative or legal backgrounds. Not one has come with a court judge background.

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Masami Okino, a graduate of the University of Tokyo, served as a professor at Gakushuin University Faculty of Law and at Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Law before assuming her current position in April 2025. She is also a member of the Justice Ministry’s National Bar Examination Commission and the Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee for Establishment of Civil Rules.

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