Japan: Corporate/Commercial Law

An in-house legal manager at INPEX in Tokyo discusses the challenges and rewards of managing a global legal team in the oil and gas sector, navigating Japan's evolving work culture, and supporting the company's energy transition initiatives. The conversation explores how a Singapore-based lawyer found his way to Japan and built a career at the intersection of energy law and international business.

Japan has blocked a South Korean private equity firm's acquisition of a Japanese machine tool manufacturer, marking only the second time ever the country has rejected...

Japanese institutional investors have been steadily increasing their allocations to private equity, private credit, infrastructure and other private markets strategies.

In the first week of October 2026, the world’s highest-grossing law firm announced that it will stop keeping score in public. Kirkland & Ellis informed The American Lawyer by letter that 2026 would be the last year it supplies revenue and profit figures to the press. Public reporting, the firm wrote, “does not provide meaningful value to our clients,” and the rankings it feeds “could incentivize quantitative metrics over qualitative strengths.” Justin Henry, Kirkland Goes Dark on Reporting Revenue and Profits to Media, Bloomberg L. (Oct. 7, 2026).

Although domestic enforcement volumes in Japan remain modest in some areas compared with overseas authorities, actions by foreign regulators against Japanese companies...

The number of tender offers in Japan is on the rise, and the number of deals this year is expected to set a new annual record.

On May 15, 2024, the Diet passed into law amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (the "FIEA") (the "Amendments").

In Japan, there is no law that comprehensively covers ESG issues, but various laws regulate ESG-related matters.

This Cross-Border Joint Venture and Strategic Alliance Guide (Japan) discusses relevant law and practice related to the formation and operation of cross-border joint ventures...

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry revised the Japan model limited partnership agreement in June 2025, expanding fund expense provisions to align with global standards. As international capital flows into Japan's PE and VC markets, fund managers face growing pressure to adopt robust expense allocation policies and procedures to meet LP expectations and avoid regulatory violations.

Although domestic enforcement volumes in Japan remain modest in some areas compared with overseas authorities, actions by foreign regulators against Japanese companies...

In May 2025, Japan's Parliament passed the Act on Promotion of Research and Development, and Utilization of Artificial Intelligence-Related Technologies (the "AI Promotion Act")1 in response to the rapid advancement of AI technologies.