Due to the chronic labor shortage in the Land of the Rising Sun as consequence of its aging population, low birth rate and decline in inward migration, the Japanese government aspires to open more and more doors of employment opportunities for foreign nationals who seek to engage in a gainful opportunity in Japan.
One of the much needed group of foreign nationals in the country are the highly skilled professionals such as but not limited to lawyers, engineers, business executives and scientists, among others. There are a lot of domestic and international corporations, firms and establishments in Japan that are in need of the expertise as well as valuable knowledge of foreign professionals.
For instance, there are businesses that involve a lot of cross border legal disputes in Japan yet there are only about twenty international arbitration cases in Japan every year due to the lack of lawyers. As opposed to other countries across the globe and in Asia such as Singapore and Hongkong wherein hundreds of arbitration cases are handled well annually, there are several cases and issues that are left unresolved in Japan in view of the scarcity of professionals who can provide legal services in arbitration and mediation.
In order to strengthen the country’s ability in handling international arbitration matters, the Japanese government undertook to revise its laws so as to allow more attorneys who have a foreign license to conduct their private practice in Japan.
To start with, the capital city of Japan, Tokyo intends to amend the stringent requirements for legal professionals to practice in the country and register as attorney at law. In this way, they will be able to incorporate joint corporations with their local partners in Japan. With more corporate lawyers in Japan, the government hopes to make it easier for foreign corporations to seek cross border resolutions of their issues in the country.
Reference: Japan aims to increase number of foreign-law attorneys
