（Abstract）

The discussions on comprehensive reforms of the Japanese judicial system has been going on since the 1980’s，however，Japanese officials did not make up theirmind to bring an extensive and united judicial reform into official routine and formally start the reform of the judicial system until 1999. Under the “Law onEstablishing Review Committees for Judicial Systems Reform” passed by the Parliament in 1999，a Review Committee constituting famous legal scholars，businessmen and lawyers，was set up to make a comprehensive consideration of the Japanese judicial system. The “Review Committee Position Paper on Japanese Judicial System”（hereafter abbreviated as “Position Paper on Judicial Reform”）put forward bythe Review Committee to the cabinet in June 2001，actually sketched the basic framework for judicial system reform and the basic tentative plans of system reformsin individual judicial areas for Japan in the new century，thus becoming the guidebook for Japanese judicial system reforms，among which the contents of the reform of Japan’s civil action system comprised the largest part.

At present，system reforms are also being actively promoted in various judicialfields in China，with the appearance of a large variety of reform measures. Although the environment for civil law system reform and existing system in China differs to a large degree from the situation in Japan，the problems that have emerged in the Japanese civil law system sometimes arise in our judicial system as well. Therefore，the Chinese civil law system reforms should use the basic ideasand thoughts of the Japanese civil law system reforms for references. By analyzing the civil law system reform section in “Position Paper on Judicial Reform”，and combining related materials. This essay has made a primary review of Japanese civil law system reforms.