JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Takefumi Sato, Aoi Inoue, Kosuke Tsunashima and Ryohei Ikeda, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune
Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters of 1965 (the “Hague Service Convention”). However, in December 2018 the Japanese govern - ment lodged an objection to Article 10 (a) of the Hague Service Convention, meaning that service of process by direct postal mail is no longer permitted when serv - ing Japanese defendants in lawsuits taking place in foreign countries. Accordingly, if a plaintiff filed suit in a signatory state of the Hague Service Convention against a Japanese defendant and served the Japa - nese defendant by direct postal mail, any default judg - ment delivered by the court of said foreign country will most likely be unenforceable in Japan. This is because the losing defendant would not be deemed to have “duly received service” under Article 118, Item 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Public Order or Good Morals in Japan The fourth category comprises foreign judgments that do not meet the prerequisite set forth in Article 118, Item 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which provides that “[t]he contents of the judgment and the court pro - ceedings are not contrary to the public order or good morals in Japan”. There is a precedent from the Supreme Court of Japan, for example, holding that part of a California court judgment ordering payment of punitive damages for the purpose of deterrence and sanction is against the public order of Japan and therefore not enforce - able (Supreme Court Judgment of 11 July 1997). Parts of foreign judgments awarding punitive damages are thus potentially unenforceable in Japan in some cas - es, on the grounds that they are in violation of the The fifth category of foreign judgments that will not be enforced in Japan are those delivered by courts in a country where there is no reciprocal treatment for the judgments of Japanese courts (Article 118, Item 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure). Reciprocity in this context means a foreign court rec - ognises the judgments of Japanese courts, under its domestic law, and does so upon conditions not sub - stantially different from those stipulated by Article 118 public order. Reciprocity
of the Code of Civil Procedure (Supreme Court Judg - ment of 7 June 1983). Several lower court judgments have found that there is no reciprocity for Japanese court judgments in the People’s Republic of China, but there have been judgments that recognised reciprocity between Japan and many other countries, including Australia, South Korea, Singapore, the UK, Germany, and US states such as Illinois, California, Minnesota, New York and Nevada. 3.4 Process of Enforcing Foreign Judgments A party that wishes to enforce a foreign judgment in Japan must file a lawsuit seeking a judgment of exe - cution; in principle, this would be a district court with jurisdiction over the domicile of the judgment debtor (Article 24 of the Civil Execution Act). If no challenges are raised on any of the grounds listed in Article 118 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the court will render a directly enforceable judgment. Should the defendant raise any objections on those grounds, the case proceeds like any other normal lawsuit. However, in a lawsuit seeking a judgment of execution, a court decision is often made mainly based on documents submitted by the parties (ie, legal briefs and written evidence). Witness examination is usually not neces - sary. If the court finds that the prerequisites set forth in Arti - cle 118 of the Code of Civil Procedure are met, it deliv - ers a judgment of execution that allows the plaintiff to enforce the foreign judgment. The court may issue a judgment of execution with respect to only part of the foreign judgment. As is the case with any other lawsuit, where a district court judgment has been granted or denied a judg - ment of execution, the losing party may file an appeal to a high court. A final appeal to the Supreme Court may then be filed by the losing party following the high court proceedings. The plaintiff can proceed to enforcement of a foreign judgment once a judgment of execution becomes final and irrevocable. The process thereafter is the same as enforcing domestic judgments.
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