Lawyer Monthly Magazine - April 2019 Edition

CORPORATE LAW Japan has a large population and wealth accumulated through the economic growth over 70 plus years after the end of World War II. Although household wealth was adversely affected by the burst of bubbles in the 1990s and the financial crisis occurred in 2008, the population in Japan is shrinking and ageing, yet Japan still has a population exceeding 126 million as of 1 January 2019 and household financial assets were JPY1,859 trillion as of 30 September 2018. Since the rule of law is well respected, you can assume investment in Japan is solidly protected by law. It is a shame that foreign investors do not take advantage of these benefits. Doing Business in Japan: What Does the Jurisdiction Have To Offer? 96 Doing Business In... www. lawyer-monthly .com APR 2019 What common misconceptions do you find that international clients have about doing business in Japan? Foreign investors may think doing business in Japan is challenging, but there will be no country where the business is not challenging. JAPAN A good example may be addressing the criticism that Japan does not import enough, especially American cars. This may ring true for American car companies, however, Japan imported 351,364 cars during the year from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018. 229,000 out of the 351,364 imported cars were German. German cars boast the reputation of being good quality and prestigious. Readers may be surprised to know that there is no tariff on imported cars and German car manufacturers thus took advantage of the friendly Japanese market and increased the sale by developing a nationwide network of services and advertisements. Can you expand on the requirements clients must meet, in order to expand in Japan? Quality products and quality services would be the requirements. What are the regulations regarding trade? Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP11) went into effect on 30 December 2018 and EU- Economic Partnership Agreement came into effect on 1 February 2019. This will substantially improve the business environment in Japan for foreign investors or companies doing business in Japan.