About us
We are a full-service law firm located in Tokyo and Kyoto, cities that would be familiar to many foreign corporations as well as foreign residents and tourists, with a particular focus on practice of corporate and business law as well as inheritance law in Japan. Our foreign clients include corporations and individuals located in wide areas such as United States, EU, China, Taiwan, Australia, Thai and other Asian countries. Also, our Japanese clients are not only located in Tokyo and Kyoto, but all across Japan including Osaka and Kobe.
There are few law firms which are capable of providing Japanese-law related legal services in English and Chinese for foreign corporations and foreign residents in Japan.
With our deep practical experiences and wide range of beneficial networks, we, as specialists in the practice of Japanese law, consistently provide legal services for our foreign clients in the areas of corporate and business law, inheritance (including making wills), and purchasing and managing real estate law of Japan in English and Chinese.
Please click About us for more details.
Practice areas
We, as qualified Japanese lawyers, consistently provide high quality legal services of corporate and business law, wills and inheritance, and purchasing and managing real estate law as below.
Corporate and business law practices
We consistently provide the following high quality legal services regarding corporate and business law practices to foreign corporations doing businesses in Japan by fully utilizing our deep practical experiences and knowledge in relation to Japanese corporate and business law.
Our legal services for starting businesses in Japan include the following:
(i) executing various type of business agreements with your business partners in Japan (including drafting and reviewing agreements as well as negotiating with your business partners);
(ii) the establishment of corporations and other entities under Japanese law with support from our associated external experts (judicial scriveners) as necessary;
(iii) setting up joint venture corporations with your business partners in Japan;
(iv) merger and acquisition transactions targeting Japanese corporations, including legal due diligence exercises; and
(iv) advice on regulations relevant to starting business in Japan such as restriction on foreign investments.
Wills & Inheritance
Making a will
We provide all necessary legal services for you to make a will covering your assets located in Japan (bank deposits, real estate, shares etc).
There are mainly two ways of preparing a will under Japanese law. One is where you go to a notary office in Japan to make a will, which is called “will by a notarized document” (“kousei shosho yuigon” in Japanese). The other is where you write a will by yourself without going to a notary office or having it witnessed, which is called “will by a holograph document” (“jihitsu shosho yuigon” in Japanese). We can advise which method is better for your needs and circumstances, and assist you with making an appropriate will.
If you have assets located outside of Japan and have already made a will for those assets, you would need to take extra precautions so that such a will would not contradict or conflict with a Japanese will that you are going to make. We can review foreign wills (written in English or Chinese) and get in touch by email with foreign lawyers who you already retained in order to avoid such contradictions or conflicts as necessary.
Inheritance
Under Japanese law, if the nationality of the deceased is Japanese, the inheritance will be governed by Japanese law. Even if the nationality of the deceased is not Japanese, Japanese law might still apply to the inheritance if the laws of the country to which that deceased belongs stipulate to that effect. Furthermore, a beneficiary might have no choice but to follow procedures in Japanese even if Japanese law does not apply. For example, an organization that handles the inheritance procedures, such as a bank, might request those procedures to be carried out in Japanese because the organization is located in Japan. bank, might request those procedures to be carried out in Japanese because the organization is located in Japan.
With those potential scenarios in mind, we provide the following legal services.
Under Japanese law, if a person dies intestate, all eligible beneficiaries must discuss and divide the estate by agreement. We can provide legal assistance for your negotiations with other beneficiaries to reach such an agreement.
If beneficiaries fail to reach an agreement regarding division of the estate, generally each of them will need to submit an application of conciliation to the family court in Japan for division of the estate. If the need to take such legal procedures arises, we can continue to act on your behalf to handle the court application.
Purchasing and managing real estate
If you are considering to purchase real estate in Japan but are having difficulties with communicating in Japanese, we can introduce suitable properties to you through associated real estate agents and also provide necessary legal services such as reviewing purchase agreements. We have strong connections with real estate agencies managing properties, particularly those situated in Kyoto, because of our law firm’s location. We can also provide legal assistance after the purchase of properties, such as reviewing lease agreements, to ensure that you can manage your properties appropriately.
News
- Announcement: Japan-Australia Inheritance Seminar in Gold Coast
- Announcement: Japan-Australia Inheritance Seminar Hosted by JAFA
- Announcement – Providing Shizuoka Prefecture with legal support
- Announcement – Hosting a Visit from Western Sydney University
- Announcement of the Seminar – Japan-Australia Inheritance Seminar –