• Overview
• Japanese Law Related Websites:
  • Governmental and Quasi-Governmental Organisations
  • Academic Institutions
  • Associations
  • Law Firms, Individuals, and Corporations
• Japanese Caselaw
• Other Developments:
  • Product Liability
  • Cyberlaw

Here you will first find links to over 100 websites in English containing a wealth of material of varying quantity and quality related to Japanese law, particularly business law.

About 50 were taken from Part II.i of Japanese Business Law in Western Languages: An Annotated Selective Bibliography (1998, Littleton Co, USA: Fred B Rothman & Co), co-authored by Harald Baum and Luke Nottage. Only the introductory section of the book (without footnotes) and the links themselves (sometimes with a few words of introduction) are reproduced here. The book adds quite an extensive commentary on each website assessing its relevance, highlighting particularly useful sub-pages, giving examples of the sort of material to be found, and so on. The book contains a wealth of other material as well (click here for further details). But even the selected information here should be helpful in accessing more efficiently the burgeoning secondary literature on or relevant to Japanese law, especially business law. This webpage also regularly adds links to websites which have come online since publication of the book in mid-1998. The dates these were inaugurated are indicated in red, when ascertainable, and they are introduced in somewhat more detail than some websites already reviewed in the book. Finally, this webpage mention important new material which appears on any of the linked websites.

As in the book, this webpage divides the websites into four main categories: governmental, academic, association, and others. Within each category, the most helpful websites are generally listed first, judged mainly in terms of original, timely, and reliable information; but the order is also based on the logical structure developed in the book.

In addition, this webpage reports on some recent developments in Japanese law, including new sections on "Japanese Caselaw" and "Cyberlaw". (For a number of Luke Nottage's own or co-authored works on Japanese law, such as "Cyberspace and the Future of Law, Legal Education and Practice in Japan", click here.)

Recent changes to the website are marked and/or dated in red, and some further information may be given in updates. I would be grateful for your feedback and help in keeping all this up to date: contact me at luken@law.usyd.edu.au.

Governmental and Quasi-Governmental Organisations:

• Supreme Court of Japan
• House of Councillors
• House of Representativesincluding:
  • online video proceedings
  • Research Commission on the Constitution (since 2000)
• Prime Minister's Official Residence including:
  • Brief list of new Ministries etc and outline of comprehensive central government reform in effect from 6 January 2001 (but still no longer available is a webpage containing useful links, alphabetical and on a diagramme, to other government entities, with a brief description of what is on their websites)
  • 12 June 2001 report of the Judicial Reform Council (blue-ribbon advisory committee, recommending far-reaching changes to Japan's system for administering civil and criminal justice, including eg further drastic increases in numbers permitted to become practising attorneys, judges and prosecutors)
  • Deregulation policy reports
  • IT policy reports
• Cabinet
  • Cabinet Office (Naikakufu)(overview since 6 January 2001) including:
    • Economic & Fiscal Policy (subsuming part of the former Economic Policy Agency) Economic Planning Agency (EPA) including:
    • Quality of Life Policy (subsuming another part) including:
      • Consumer Contract Law (No 61, 2000)
        • For more extensive information (but overwhelmingly in Japanese), see this Policy Bureau's website at http://www.consumer.go.jp/
        • See also Japan Consumer Information Center (especially some back issues of JCIC Newsletter)
    • Gender Equality Bureau, including:
      • Basic Law of 1999
    • Science & Technology, including:
      • Basic Law of 1995
  • Financial Services Agency (Kinyucho)including:
    • some Press Releases in English, under "What's New", eg establishment of Banks' Shareholdings Acquisition Corporation (26 June 2001)
  • Cabinet Legislation Bureau (Naikaku Hoseikyoku)including:
    • introduction to Japan's legislative process
  • National Personnel Authority (Jinji In) including:
    • extensive introduction to the Japanese civil service
  • National Police Agency (Keisatsucho) including:
    • Unauthorized Computer Access Law of 1999
  • Defence Agency (Boeicho) including:
    • documents from Special Action Committee on Okinawa
• Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (Somusho)(formerly a prime minister's agency and two ministries), including:
  • Official Information Disclosure legislation ("Law Concerning Access to Information held by Administrative Organs": translation, and outline); Public Comment Procedure regarding changes to regulations
  • Translations of reports and important legislation on telecomms/internet; see also
    • Cyber Business Association (including guidelines on protecting personal information, and "electronic watermarks")
    • Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co
  • Fair Trade Commission (Kosei Torihiki Iinkai) including:
    • amendments to Anti-Monopoly Law (civil remedy system) and Subcontracting Law (e-documentation), in force from April 2001
  • Postal Services Agency (Yusei Jigyocho) including:
    • regularly updated numbers of internet connection users
  • Environmental Dispute Coordination Commission (Kogai-to Chosei Iinkai)including:
    • overview of system for settling environmental pollution disputes
• Ministry of Justice (still Homusho: see overview) including:
  • the Electronic Commerce Study group (1998 report on commercial registrations, electronic signatures);
  • how to apply as a gaikokuho jimubengoshi (foreign law solicitor);
  • nationality law (translation, and note on dual citizenship)
  • immigration (notes and translation of the immigration and refugee law, and the alien registation law [amended 1999])
  • child prostitution/pornography law (translation)
  • Public Prosecutors Office (Kensatsucho) including:
    • brief sketch of criminal procedure
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs including:
  • Regulatory Reform (chrononlogy through to April 1999; 30 March 1999 Cabinet Decision, 3-year program)
  • Generalised System of [customs] Preferences (detailed guide)
  • Visas (detailed guide in 2000, including 1990 Ministerial Ordinance on approved work categories)
  • Working Holiday Programmes (with more visa information)
  • Law of the Sea (1996 Cabinet "Understanding")
• Ministry of Finance (MoF, Zaimusho, formerly Okurasho) including:
  • Financial System Reform (1997 reports, progress in 1999, schedule in April 2000; outline of amendments to the Deposit Insurance Law and Insurance Business Law)
  • Customs ("Customs Administration in Japan 1999" guide, including translated Customs Law etc [amended until 1998], outline of amendments for 2000 [including simplified declaration procedure])
  • Tax Policy ("Japanese Tax System" 1999 ed, outline of tax reforms for FY 1999, Commission Report 14/7/00)
  • Budget and FILP (Fiscal Investment & Loan Program: no longer compulsory deposits of postal savings and pension reserves)
  • National Tax Administration Agency (Kokuzeicho) - in Japanese, but including in English:
    • brief outlines of income tax information for foreigners
    • detailed overview of tax administration
  • Bank of Japan including:
    • Bank of Japan Law amended as of 2001 (establishing the bank as an autonomous entity, albeit one which must consult with the government in implementing its objectives of price stability etc)
• Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry (METI, Keizai Sangyosho, formerlyMITI) including:
  • 2001 White Paper on International Trade (published 29 June 2001)
  • Report on survey on conditions for foreign investment in Japan (27 June 2001)
  • Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO)
    • JETRO Head Office website revamped in 2000 including:
      • updated overviews of legislation relevant to investing in Japan (including detailed guide to taxation), and
      • guide to intellectual property protection
    • JETRO (USA)
  • Patent Officeincluding:
    • examination guidelines for computer related software inventions (28 December 2000)
  • Small and Medium Enterprises Agencyincluding
    • outline of newly enacted Basic Law
  • Natural Resources and Energy Agency (Shigen Enerugicho) including:
    • Nuclear Safety Convention - Japan Report
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) including:
  • "Negotiating Proposal by Japan on WTO Agricultural Negotiations" early 2001); cf
  • Basic Law on Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas
• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Koseirodosho, combining Ministries of Labour, and Health & Welfare)including:
  • importing medication into Japan for personal use (1/2/00)
  • food/additives from recombinant DNA
  • outlines of policy in outlines of labour standards, workers' compensation, employment security, equal employment, etc
  • social security history in Japan (1996)
• Ministry of the Environment (Kankyosho, formerly only Agency)including:
  • helpful diagrammes explaining many fully translated laws and standards
• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure & Transport (Kokudo Kotsusho, combining Ministries of Construction and Transport) including:
  • press releases (sometimes with quite detailed information) regarding transport law & policy, eg amendments to Marine Transportation Law in 1999 to bolster competition [but only through to mid-2000]
• Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology ("MEXT", Monbukagakusho, combining Ministry of Education & Cultural Agency) including:
  • Agency for Cultural Affairs including:
    • brief outlines of copyright system/legislative amendments, religious organisations policy, protection of Ainu culture
    • more extensive information on protection of cultural property (including taxes)
• Audit Board (Kaikei Kensa-in)(independent of cabinet and ministries, etc) including:
  • Board of Audit Law (amended as of 1999)
    • see also Government Auditing Review articles (since 2001)
• CURRENTLY OFFLINE US House of Representatives Internet Law Library (under Japan)
• US Trade Representative's Office eg deregulation talks, market access, investment
• European Commission (Brussels) eg Trade with Japan
• Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, Paris) including
  • Economic Survey (December 2000)
• World Trade Organisation (Geneva) including
  • Trade Policy Review (November 2000)

[Back to Links Index][Back to Top]

Academic Institutions:

• Temple University in Japan including
  • Kuniko Fujisawa, "New Developments in Japanese Asset Securitization: Open the Floodgates" (January, 1999)
  • Toshiro Nishimura, "Code of Ethics for Japan" (December, 1998)
  • Kozo Yabe, "Protection of Configuration of Goods under Unfair Competition Prevention Regulations in Japan" (Fall, 1998)
• Japanese Law and Regulation Information (part of the J Guide, Stanford University's more general Guide to Japanese Information Resources)
• Washburn University School of Law
• World Wide Web Virtual Library - Law (maintained by Indiana University, search under "Foreign and International Law", then "F-J" including Japan)
• Japanese Law and Other Useful WWW Services in Japan (maintained by Tohoku University Law Faculty): including links to
  • Japanese Law resources (mostly in Japanese)
  • Law Faculties, Bar Associations
  • Personal Webpages (a few in English)
  • Research Institutes
  • Government
• Osaka University Law Faculty including:
  • Work by Shigeru Kagayama briefly comparing the Japanese Civil Code with CISG (UN Sales Convention, not yet ratified by Japan), on consumer protection, and expert systems for tort in Japan.
• Kyoto Comparative Law Center
• Tokyo University Law Faculty
  • International Center for Comparative Law and Politics including:
    • issues since 1998 of the ICCLP Review (mostly foreign law, but some material related to Japanese law)
  • Tokyo Internet Law Journal a new online journal run by law students including
• Institute of Social Sciences (Tokyo University)
• Ohara Institute (Hosei University), mostly in Japanese but:
  • bibliography of labour relations books etc
  • website of researcher Akira Suzuki

[Back to Links Index][Back to Top]

Associations:

• Japanese Federation of Bar Associations (Nichibenren) including:
  • Code of Ethics, and Regulations on Fees;
  • Membership and bengoshi "system" (including outline of gaikokuho jimubengoshi system and numbers);
  • Extensive information on activities of Nichibenren and its committees.
• Daini Bar Association (Tokyo)
• Japan Institute of Certified Public Accountants including:
  • "News Flash" section, sometimes with useful summaries of new changes to accounting and tax rules
• Tokyo Tax Attorneys Association: guide to tax attorneys and tax
• Japan Patent Attorneys Associationincluding:
  • brief outlines of IP law in Japan
• Patent Attorneys Cooperation Association of Japan including:
  • list and (mostly English) description of dozens of patent attorney offices, with links to websites
• Japan Shipping Exchange including:
  • translations of recent legislation, some recently amended, included the Foreign Lawyers Law, the Arbitration Law (left after reform of the Code of Civil Procedure in 1996), and the Japanese Carriage of Goods by Sea Act
  • JSE Bulletins (full text since Vol 33, Sept 1996), including eg T Tateishi "The Enforcement of the Arbitration Agreement under Japanese Law" (Vol 39, 1999)
• Japanese Commercial Arbitration Association including:
  • JCA Newsletters (in English, since 1996)
• Japan Economic Foundation (supported by Ministry of Economy): including:
  • report on new framework for venture businesses
• Japan Foundation (supported by Ministry of Foreign Affairs): this links to their "Newsletter", which occasionally [eg Vols XXV/2 and /4] contains short articles related to law)
• Copyright Research and Information Center (CRIC): including
  • Copyright Update for 2000
• Keidanren (Japan Federation of Economic Organisations), with "policy papers" including eg Recommendation Regarding the Mutual Exchange of Cross-Held Shares (8/98); and its
  • 21st Century Public Policy Institute, including
    • (under "Recommendations", a detailed report entitled) "Towards the Revitalisation of the Japanese Civil Justice System" (12/98)
• Tokyo Stock Exchange
• ACCJ (American Chamber of Commerce in Japan), including its "viewpoints" on specific issues, eg:
  • revisions to the Commercial Code (released 25 July 2000)
  • continuing deregulation efforts (21 July 2000)
• Japan Information Access Project, with reports and news especially on patent and competition law and policy as well as on Japanese economy and government generally, including some freely distributed reports
• Foreign Lawyers Association of Japan (formerly known as the Roppongi Bar Association, RBA): further details about this organisation can be obtained from the President, Mr. Leo Tyndall, tel (03) 5791-3790, (090) 3527-0988.

[Back to Links Index][Back to Top]

Law Firms, Individuals, and Corporations:

• CURRENTLY OFFLINE A Guide to Japanese Law (by a group of Japanese practising attorneys)
• Masuda & Ejiri (two shogai bengoshi from Tokyo who unusually opened a New York office in 1992, with the former still stationed there, although their firm has since merged in Tokyo with Asahi Law Offices): "A Lawyer's Guide to Japan", including short summaries of virtually all aspects of the legal environment in Japan
• Kojima Law Office (Tokyo), regularly updating with short "Treatises", on topical issues often before information available elsewhere, including eg:
  • Liberalization of the Japanese Telecommunication Laws (October 1998)
  • Japanese Patent Act Recently Amended to Strengthen the Remedies Against Infringement (August 1998)
  • Japanese Tax Development (July 1998)
  • Law Concerning Revaluation of Land (May 1998)
• Andreas Kaiser's website (by a German lawyer now practising in Tokyo as a gaikokuho jimubengoshi), including:
  • summaries in English and German of recent Japanese law developments;
  • some commentaries and articles;
  • free email newsletter.
• CURRENTLY OFFLINE Robert Seeman's Japan Law website (replacing his Japan Law Base) includes:
  • translations (as of January 1997) of the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law, Banking Law, Cabinet Order on Direct Inward Investment, and Regulations on Consolidated Financial Statements
  • Back issues (1982-7) of the Japan Law Letter journal
• "Senrei" website, maintained by Jody Chafee, containing:
  • summaries of interesting constitutional, civil and commercial law cases since 1995 (see also "Caselaw" section, below); maintained by Tatsuo Shigeta,
  • links to other resources
• Mizuho Securities Co Ltd (the investment banking arm of the Mizuho Financial Group: formerly IBJ Securities), including:
  • (under "Research and Links") a useful set of links and some original material, especially for statutes translated into English, accounting, etc.
  • extensive information on financial markets, including Big Bang deregulation.
• CURRENTLY OFFLINE Family Lawyer maintained by Tatsuo Shigeta, a lawyer qualified in Japan and the US, with information primarily about family and immigration law topics most relevant to foreigners in Japan: including
  • new law changes, recent cases etc
  • Bulletin Board (with his responses to e-mail questions)
• Kitahama Law Office (Osaka)
• CURRENTLY OFFLINE IP Info from Japan by Tsuruya (employed by the Japanese Patent Office)
• Japanlaw.co.jp (Nakamura & Associates, law firm in Tokyo), including:
  • How to incorporate a company in Japan (overview)
  • New Insurance Business Law (overview)
  • New Code of Civil Procedure (in effect from 1 January 1998; translation of Articles 1 to 38 only)
• Japan IP Resources, including:
  • regular "News Updates" (mainly but not exclusively intellectual property law, sometimes with translations of important recent cases)
  • excellent annotated lists of links (again, mainly IP)
  • AIIPI Journal table of contents from recent issues
• Japan Patent Site (JPS, "Information of Japanese Patent & Trademark Attorneys"), linking eg:
  • Onda Techno International Patent Attorneys (in Gifu), with:
    • very useful papers on trademarks and e-commerce, domain name registrations (20 June 2001)
    • other basic information on trademarks
    • useful Q&A (IP enforcement, defending infringement suits, challenging patents)
  • Hiroe International Patent and Trademark Law Firm (in Gifu; with some IP Information bulletins, although the last posted dates from January 2000)
• Shusaku Yamamoto Patent Law Office (Osaka, now only including brief abstracts of short publications in English on IP in Japan)
• Exercises in Cross-Cultural Negotiations in Japan (used by Christopher Wells, a registered foreign lawyer (gaikokuho jimubengoshi) in Tokyo, in classes taught at Temple University in Japan)
• Solberg International Law Office (run by another registered foreign lawyer, but based in Osaka)
• Internet Law Library, by Pritchart Law Webs, including links to some articles and some unusual legislation (eg Reserve Deposit Law) or treaties (eg Axis treaties)
• Rominger Legal Services, including links divided into four categories: Legal Resource Guides, Organizations, General Information (newspapers), and Legal Documents (but mostly in Japanese)
• EU-Japan Center for Industrial Cooperation extensive information on Japan, including:
  • some on "G. Law" (internet portals, translations of laws, CD Rom databases in Japanese, etc)
• Japanese Law Connection, including
  • a few links directly to various statutes translated into English
• Kosuke Shimizu's "International Political Economy Homepage", by a teacher at Kansai Gaidai, including:
  • "Comfort Women and the Nanking Massacre"
• CURRENTLY OFFLINE Masayuki Yoshida's Home Page, by a Sheffield University Ph.D. candidate: including
  • nice summary of the debate about "The Reluctant Japanese Litigant" (Kawashima vs Haley vs Tanaka vs ...); cf Nottage & Wollschlaeger 1996 etc
• Mainichi Daily News (with a free archive of back issue articles, now searchable)
• Nikkei Net Interactive (the new website of Japan's major financial newspaper group, but now basically user-pays)

[Back to Links Index][Back to Top]

• Generally, see:
  • The "Senrei" website maintained by Mr Jody Chafee, in the Seattle law office of Graham & James/Riddell Williams, containing summaries of interesting constitutional, civil and commercial law cases since 1995. [4/99]
  • The Temple University in Japan webpage maintained by Vicki Beyer, containing casenotes and translations of cases on corporate law and governance, antitrust, and copyright law.
  • Recent cases of Teacher Dismissals etc, briefly introduced (in Japanese with some English translations and contrasting US law) on the personal website of a former high school principal.

• Specific case translations include (listed in reverse chronological order):
  • Product Liability [see also the TV case below]: Japan's first judgment under the PL Law of 1994 (Nagoya District Court, 30 June 1999, translated by Luke Nottage - annotated version first published in Vol 10 No 10 [December 1999/January 2000] Australian Product Liability Reporter at 126-130).
  • Patent Law: Doctrine of Equivalents (Supreme Court, 24 February 1998; translated by Chris Mizumoto, available through News Update section of the Japan IP Resources website)
  • Parallel Importation of Patented Goods: The BBS Case (Supreme Court, 1 July 1997; translated by Jinzo Fujino, available through News Update section of the Japan IP Resources website)
  • Defamation in Cyberspace (Tokyo District Court, 25 May 1997; summary with partial translations by Narufumi Kadomatsu) [see also the article by John Middleton under "Cyberlaw" below]
  • Indigeneous Rights of Ainu: The Nibutani Dam Case (Sapporo District Court, 27 March 1997):
    • casenote by Toshiaki Sonohara;
    • casenote by Mark Levin
  • Product Liability: The Exploding T.V. Case (Osaka District Court, 29 March 1994; full translation by Noburo Kashiwagi, Gerald McAllinn, and students at Tokyo University Law Faculty in 1995)
  • Kawahara House of Representatives Electoral Malapportionment Case (Supreme Court, Grand Bench, 20 January 1993; full translation on Supreme Court's website)
  • The Narita Airport Protest case (Supreme Court, Grand Bench, 1 July 1992; full translation on the Supreme Court's website)
  • NZ-Japan Beef Export Contract Breach case (Kobe District Court, 10 November 1962; partial translation by Luke Nottage)

[Back to Links Index][Back to Top]

• Product Liability Trends: copyright 1998-2001, Luke Nottage
  • Full version of "Taking a Leaf from Japan's Product Liability Claims" 41 CCH Asiawatch (April 2000) [added 6/00]
  • Japan's first judgment under the PL Law of 1994 (Nagoya District Court, 30 June 1999, translated by Luke Nottage - annotated version first published in Vol 10 No 10 [December 1999/January 2000] Australian Product Liability Reporter at 126-130) [2/00]
  • Reported PL Claims in Japan since the Early 1990s [11/98, updated 12/99]
  • Reported PL Claims in Japan under the new PL Law (in effect from July 1, 1995) [11/98, updated 12/99]
  • cf US Product Liability: Recent Publications: Restatement Third and Generally [5/99]

• Cyberlaw:
  • Frank Bennett, "The Nature and the Nurture of Legal Information Systems" Issue 2001.4.25 Tokyo Internet Law Journal [4/01]
  • Translations of legislation in 2000 on hacking and digitial signatures (with English commentary on the latter by Andreas Kaiser) [8/00]
  • Luke Nottage, "Legal Sites in Japan and Other Asian Countries", comparing Korean and Taiwan (lecture to the NZ Law Librarians' Group, August, 2000) [8/00]
  • Funded by a private foundation in Japan, a group of academics in Japan, the UK, and the US have embarked on an interdisciplinary study of the interrelationships between IT developments and legal practice, education, and participatory democracy: click here for reference material. A symposium took place at Kyushu International University in Kitakyushu on June 10, preceded and succeeded by online discussions. Contact Luke Nottage for further details. [1/00]
  • Luke Nottage "Cyberspace and the Future of Law, Legal Education and Practice in Japan", [1998/5] Web Journal of Current Legal Issues [12/98]
  • Forum: Japan's First Electronic Law Journal? Now available at Kyoto University's Legal Sociology website [10/98]
  • Self-Regulation in Japan: Electronic Commerce (Paper presented by Tsuneo Matsumoto in Wellington, New Zealand, in April 1998) [6/98]
  • John Middleton "Liability of Service Providers for Defamation in Cyberspace" (1997) 8 European Business Law Review 108 [2/00] [see also the judgment translated by Narufumi Kadomatsu, above under Case Law]

[Back to Links Index][Back to Top]