Via a range of broad issues such as abortion, suicide, capital punishment and death from overwork, this study analyzes life law, the social sciences and law studies of contemporary Japan. It approaches the right to life in Japan from a legal viewpoint and includes a discussion of law and rights in Japan from an historical perspective. The author examines the question of what life is in contemporary Japan and focuses on problematic areas which have risen in life issues, including infringements of the right to life within the modern company organization, and by the state, as well as the question of the equality of the right to life.