If you’ve ever visited Japan, you know how exciting it is to see the exotic and unique culture and enjoy its differences, as the famous film “Lost in Translation.” While starting a business in Japan may be difficult because it is almost always done in Japanese, check any regulations for your new investment, obtain various licenses and permits, and consult with government bureaus.
You might feel that the speed of negotiation is relatively slower than in other countries when you negotiate with Japanese companies. While you could have a long-term relationship with them after you established a solid business relationship with them.
In light of investment contracts, Japanese boilerplates sometimes don’t have clear sentences but facilitate important matters on a category with “further amicable negotiation in good faith”. This doesn’t decide that much beforehand, while you’ll find this kind of phrase frequently. Meanwhile, they work to make the contract reasonable for both parties.
If you would like to do investment in Japan, it’s necessary to understand business practice and culture in Japan. While it is not easy find these from an objective viewpoint.
Therefore, it’s nice to have a bicultural lawyer educated in foreign countries with worldwide network. Then, you’ll know how to facilitate your business negotiation with business partners in Japan.
On top of that, a double licensed lawyer works well for you when you want to have a report about regulation in Japan or legal scheme of your business since you need comparative law viewpoints to deal with your issues. It’s great to know those in detail beforehand. Then, you could avoid future disputes or unexpected troubles which will happen in the future.
In Japan, there are around forty-thousand lawyers called “Bengoshi” out of 125 million population. Bengoshi is an Attorney at Law trained under the Legal Training and Research Institute of Japan under Supreme Court. It’s like a barrister in UK. Meantime, most of them have their specialties like inheritance, divorce, and so forth. Some of them don’t speak in English.
It’s not easy to reach out to the right lawyers who could provide corporate legal service in English for you with a double jurisdiction qualification.
Hattori Law is a Tokyo-based business legal professional firm that can help you with your business in English and with qualifications from both Japan and the United States. We could add deep legal insights from comparative law viewpoints to support your understanding of Japanese regulations and laws related to your business. We have supported many foreign companies that do various kinds of business in Japan.
We will strongly support you to move forward to have smooth acceleration of your new investment here in Japan.