Only One Among 1,500... Japan Abuzz as Female High School Student Passes Bar Exam for the First Time

Third-Year Student at Keio Girls’ High School Passes Bar Exam
First Female High School Student to Achieve This, Following Previous Male Cases

A current student at a prestigious Japanese girls' high school has passed the national bar exam, drawing significant attention.

Keio Girls' High School Website Featuring High School Girls Passing the Bar Exam

According to the Sankei Shimbun on the 19th (local time), it was confirmed that an 18-year-old third-year student at Keio Girls’ High School, located in Minato Ward, Tokyo, passed this year’s bar exam. While there have previously been male high school students who passed the bar exam-such as a third-year student at Nada High School and a second-year student at Tsukuba University-affiliated Komaba High School-this is the first time a female student has achieved this feat.

In Japan, in addition to graduating from law school, there is an alternative path to taking the bar exam by passing a preliminary exam, which allows high school students to be eligible. Of this year’s 1,581 bar exam passers, 428 qualified through the preliminary exam route.

There was only one high school student among this year’s passers, and official data released by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology specified that the student was from Keio Girls’ High School. The Keio Gijuku Public Relations Office also acknowledged the student’s achievement, according to the Sankei report.

According to an article published in October on a website run by students of the school, the successful student became deeply interested in constitutional law after purchasing an introductory book at a bookstore. This led her to enroll in a preparatory academy for the bar exam right after the major holidays in her first year of high school, and she passed the preliminary exam in February this year, during her second year.

Regarding her future aspirations, she commented as follows:

"Although I have not decided on a specific path yet, I would like to become a lawyer specializing in corporate legal affairs. The elective subject I chose for the preliminary exam was economic law (antitrust law), and I found it fascinating that legal issues can arise even on a large scale, such as between corporations, and that resolving them is an interesting challenge."