The very first issue of this journal, published nearly 15 years ago, carried an article titled ‘Japanese Business Law in Cyberspace: Preliminary Usage Patterns for the ‘Japanese Law Links’ Webpage’ (Nottage, 1998). The development of the Internet as a research tool during this time, as...

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays an increasingly important part in the economies of the Asian region. The legal and regulatory approaches taken to FDI across the Asian region reflect the diversity in the legal systems of the many countries of the region, which come from a variety of legal...

This paper first describes the trade tensions between Korea and Japan that escalated from mid-2019. It assesses Korea’s prospects in a formal claim now brought before the World Trade Organization, noting difficulties with substantive law, but especially procedure given the general breakdown in...

This paper provides the first-ever detailed analysis of the dispute resolution provisions contained in Japan's burgeoning international investment treaties (BITs and FTAs or EPAs). That development is also located in the context of Japan's inbound and outbound flows in foreign investment and the...

This paper offers a comparative critique of one of the few aspects of the new Australian Consumer Law (ACL) that had no counterpart in prior domestic or New Zealand law. ACL Part 3-3 Div 5 belatedly adds a new obligation on suppliers to notify regulators of certain consumer product related...

This paper addresses treaty-based investor-state arbitration (ISA) and other forms of investor-state dispute settlement. The topic has become particularly controversial for Australia, given its ongoing Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Japan – which is also considering joining...

Concerns about growing delays and (especially) costs in International Commercial Arbitration (ICA) have spread from West to East, despite the boom in arbitrations in Asia or involving Asia-Pacific parties.The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has produced a useful Report on managing costs...

Treaty-based investor-state arbitration (ISA) has gradually become a more established part of the legal landscape in the Asian region. But this development is threatened by the “Gillard Government Trade Policy Statement” announced in April 2011. One interpretation is that the Australian...

Independent director requirements have spread throughout Asia, generating diverse definitions, enforcement patterns and cadres of directors (Part I). Yet the proliferation itself, and some of its features, provide some support for convergence in corporate governance, especially in function...