Renewable energy is front-and-centre in the Japanese energy agenda. Japan is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels for its electricity generation needs with one-third of its carbon emissions coming from its 78 thermal power stations. The Japanese prime minister has pledged that Japan will be carbon neutral by 2050 leading to the Japanese Ministry of…
East and Central Asia made further strides to promote arbitration, including through legislative reforms and enhancement of judicial assistance, as well as the accession, ratification, and creation of treaties. Some domestic courts clarified views on fundamental issues in arbitration. On the user side, East and Central Asian parties continued to be active as both claimants…
The dispute resolution landscape in Japan is almost unrecognisable from the position 20 years ago. In that time, Japan has evolved into a significant market for cross-border contentious legal matters. Sophisticated Japanese corporations with significant overseas business are comfortable using international arbitration and mediation as methods of dispute resolution. 86% of the case load of…
On 14 March 2022, the first day of the inaugural California International Arbitration Week, the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (“JCAA”) hosted a webinar on the rising waves of arbitration in Japan and California. The session was moderated by Kazuhiko Nishihara (Secretary General, Japan International Mediation Center in Kyoto), and featured speakers Yoshinori Tatsuno (Partner, Mori…
Japan is traditionally the only developed country where foreign investors are reluctant to do business (see R. Katz). The peculiar case of Japan is evident if one looks at the country’s treaty practice, but some recent developments deserve attention. In the last four decades, states have attracted foreign investment through a wide web of about…
On 2 June 2021, the British government announced that the existing 11 signatories (the “Parties”) to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (“CPTPP”) have agreed to the United Kingdom’s bid to begin the accession process.1)The signatories consist of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. International Trade…
In March 2021, a major newspaper broke the story that a Hong Kong investor had filed what may be considered the very first investment treaty arbitration claim against Japan under the Hong-Kong Bilateral Investment Treaty (Hong Kong, China SAR – Japan BIT 1997). While it may take anywhere from a few months to a few years…
On 31 May 2021, the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (“JCAA”), Japan International Dispute Resolution Center (“JIDRC”), and the Japanese Ministry of Justice (“MoJ”) co-hosted a webinar on developments in arbitration in Japan and Japan’s potential as an international arbitration hub. Some of the key takeaways from the event include: positive experiences with the physical and…
The economic turmoil brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic will undoubtedly give parties pause in weighing the potential benefits of pursuing an arbitration claim, no matter how strong it is believed to be.1)The author thanks and acknowledges Mr. Akihiro Hironaka and Mr. Mihiro Koeda for their comments on this piece. Yet international disputes and arbitration…
Professor Masato Dogauchi is a Chief Arbitration and Mediation Officer of the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (“JCAA”), Professor of Law at Waseda University Law School, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo. He has authored numerous publications in the areas of arbitration, international civil procedure, and private international law. He has sat as arbitrator,…
On 23 October 2020, Japan and the United Kingdom (UK) signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the agreement coming into force on 1 January 2021. This signifies a historic landmark as the UK’s first trade deal as an independent nation, and represents a key milestone for international trade in a post-Brexit UK. The…
In spite of unfamiliar challenges that emerged in 2020, arbitration progress in East and Central Asia has persisted. In this post, our East and Central Asian editorial team recapitulates major arbitration trends and developments of the region featured in the past year from the perspectives of national and interstate policies, judicial and legislative changes, as…
The years since 2017 have witnessed a global trend of tightening foreign direct investment (FDI) screening processes. Major economies, including the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have moved towards stricter FDI rules. In all of these cases, security concerns and, in particular, the need to protect cutting-edge technologies against…
Arbitration in Japan recently received a domestic boost when two Japanese industry titans agreed to arbitrate their dispute over a South African coal plant, with claims worth several billion US dollars, before the JCAA. However domestic arbitration in Japan tends to be used sparingly and this is often cited as a reason for many Japanese…
Gong Xi Fa Cai! The Year of the Earth Pig has drawn to a close. In what was certainly an auspicious and lucky year for arbitration developments in East and Central Asia, we take a closer look at five key developments: 1. Initiatives in PR China to boost arbitration In southern coastal China, the…
1. Complex Multi-faceted Tensions between Japan and Korea A media and geopolitical storm recently erupted after Japan introduced measures affecting exports to the Republic of Korea (Korea). Thunder sounded with Japan’s imposition of certification requirements on three chemicals needed by South Korean companies to make semiconductors, memory chips and displays for consumer electronics (the 4…
Our previous posting set out the background to the current trade tension between Korea and Japan. It outlined the possibility of Japan bringing claims under a 1965 Treaty that purported to settle claims resulting from Japan’s colonisation of Korea, or under two investment treaties, regarding Korean courts recently ordering Japanese companies to pay compensation to…
Overview1)The views expressed herein are those of the authors and should not be construed as necessarily reflecting those of their firm or of any of its clients. On 1 January 2019 the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (the “JCAA“) amended its two current sets of arbitration rules. At the same time, it introduced an additional set…
Not long after the ICCA Congress held in Sydney, the Japan International Dispute Resolution Center (JIDRC) was established in Osaka on 1 May 2018, with some fanfare from the Japanese government and local legal circles. ‘JIDRC-Osaka’ does not provide arbitration services but offers specialist facilities for international arbitration hearings and other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution…
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) was signed by 11 of the original TPP Partners on 8 March 2018 in Santiago, Chile. After the United States announced its withdrawal from the original TPP on 23 January 2017,1) The announcement made it clear that the United States was not ‘obliged to refrain from…
On December 12, 2017, the Supreme Court of Japan rendered its first decision on the setting aside of an arbitral award based on an arbitrator’s failure to disclose facts allegedly constituting a conflict of interest, reasoning that, in order for the award to be set aside on this ground, it is necessary that the arbitrator…
“Japan is Back”? Prime Minister Shinzo Abe himself is certainly back – having led the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to a fifth consecutive election in October 2017. If Abe remains in power for another three years, he will become the longest serving Japanese prime minister since World War II. Although the electorate probably responded…
Under the Japanese Arbitration Act, which was established based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration in 2003, parties may file a petition with a court requesting the court to set aside an arbitral award under certain circumstances. In such petition, parties frequently assert, among others, that “the terms of the arbitral award…
I. Introduction A deposition is a “witness’s sworn out-of-court testimony” (Legal Information Institute “Wex, Deposition”). In U.S.-based litigation, a deposition is available as part of the discovery procedure. In the United States, a deposition is also available in arbitration. Arbitral tribunals seated in the United States may order a deposition of a witness if s/he…
