JAPAN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Yuko Kanamaru, Gaien Partners
electronic distribution list. This part will be enacted by 13 December 2025. As of the date of this article, no significant update can be seen in 2024. However, it is very important to point out that digitalisation has been promoted more from the perspective of a means of conducting hearings, and counsels receive the request for Teams hearings for almost all their cases, except those involving multi - ple parties or very complicated legal matters, or those in which one of the parties does not retain counsels, etc. It is also worth noting that the Diet passed a new bill in May 2025 to enable the establishment of a data - base that will include all the civil judgments (excluding some, such as family court judgments). This database will be set up by a non-profit corporation designated by the Ministry of Justice and will be made available to the public. Impact of amendments As indicated earlier, the 2023 CEA Amendments will be enacted on a phase-by-phase basis. It may seem that complete digitalisation will take a long time to be realised, but once it is, this amendment will be a huge step not only for domestic clients, but also for foreign clients who need access to the courts, and it will make civil proceedings much more convenient. Basic process to enforce a judgment issued by a foreign court In talking about the impact of the 2023 CEA Amend - ments from an international perspective, it might be worth recapping the execution process of a judgment issued by a foreign court here in Japan. The CEA sets out the grounds for the compulsory execution (“title of obligation”) – for a foreign judgment to be a title of obligation, it should be “a judgment of a foreign court for which an execution judgment has become final and binding”. In short, it is required that a lawsuit requesting the execution judgment be filed to the competent Japanese court in order to proceed with the compulsory execution of the foreign judg - ment.
Prerequisites set out in the Code of Civil Procedure to obtain the execution judgment are: • international jurisdiction (the jurisdiction of the foreign court is recognised under laws, regulations, conventions or treaties); • proper service to the losing party (the defeated defendant has received a service – excluding a service by publication or any other service similar thereto – of summons or an order necessary for the commencement of the suit, or has appeared without receiving such service); • conformity to Japanese public order and moral - ity (the contents of the judgment and the court proceedings may not be contrary to public policy in Japan); and • reciprocity (a mutual guarantee exists). In this regard, it might be worth noting the following points. • International jurisdiction – the jurisdiction require - ment under the CCP in this regard is called “indi - rect jurisdiction”, regarding which the Supreme Court of 1998 ruled that it is appropriate to refer to the rule of reason, taking into account the princi - ples of fairness among the parties and the pursuit of appropriate and swift judgment. In this sense, indirect jurisdiction will be determined from the standpoint of whether it is appropriate to recognise the foreign judgment in Japan, considering the specific circumstances of the case and referring to the relevant provisions of the CCP. • Proper service – it is not required to be the ser - vice under Japanese civil procedure, but rather it must be done such that: (i) the defendant can be aware of the commencement of the legal pro - ceedings against them; (ii) the defendant is not prevented from exercising their right to an appro - priate defence; and (iii) the service complies with applicable conventions or treaties (Supreme Court of 1998). The requirement for proper service can also be satisfied if the unsuccessful defendant has “appeared” in court, which means that the defendant has been given the opportunity, and has actually taken measures, to defend themselves in court, including the submission of a jurisdictional challenge.
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