Some of the actual cases where my bilingual/bi-cultural background was fully or partially used include:

Civil Actions

  • Defamation, Newspaper Article — Demanding correction and request for apology posting
    (against an English-language newspaper publishing company)

  • Traffic Accident, causing a fatality — Civil Torts, assisting the victim’s heirs receiving compensation
    (fatal traffic accident. Victim of foreign nationality from one of the Middle East countries)

  • Medical Malpractice, causing a fatality — Civil Torts, supporting victim’s widow and a child
    (A deceased Oceanic citizen’s allegation on medical malpractice, pending arbitration)

  • Divorce action
    (child removal case, Canadian. (Just before the Hague took effect. Required extensive legal research on Russian Family Law, and conflict of laws issues with regards to child support)

  • Language support — international inheritance (California, case 1)
    Because I am not qualified to practice in jurisdiction outside of Japan, my service is strictly limited to support in language aspects for cases that requires knowledge and legal qualification in foreign jurisdiction. I only accept cases where even after my advice that it would be beneficial to seek foreign lawyer’s assistance(Japanese speaking, if possible) from the beginning, clients desires my assistance due to their limitation in internet search ability, on top of language barriers.

    　…Similar assistance provided for other cases for Illinois, Canada, and California(case 2) as well.




Criminal Defense

  • Criminal Defense–Pre-Indictment, a robbery and attempted manslaughter charge against a young Australian tourist
    （My client’s main defense was claiming of incompetence in assuming criminal responsibility due to various medical conditions. I negotiated settlement with the victim, arranged pickup and return accompanied his family member who would come overseas, and coordinated communication with Australian embassy. Successfully resulted a non-prosecution disposition and a safe return to home after 22 days detention at Gojo police station in Kyoto.）

  • Traffic Accident, with 7 fatal victims — Criminal Defense, Pre-Indictment and After-indictment phases. Suspected/Accused Manslaughter case.
    (plea of not guilty due to the lack of ordinary capability, built based on the characteristics of sleep apnea syndrome. )

  • Criminal Defense–Pre-Indictment, a robbery and attempted against an American
    (Negotiated settlements with multiple victims in extremely limited time-frame. Managed to arrange a solid return plan to the U.S. accompanied by his father. Obtained a non-prosecution, which is extraordinary considering the gravity of damages the suspect caused over a series of the outrageous actions.)
    News report Japanese article 2012/02/02



Examples of cases covered by the media



Other cases include….

  • Hate Crime–Tokushima Prefecture Teachers Union Case
     (Joined as a plaintiff attorney at the appeal hearing. Was in charge of drafting reasons for appeal and supplementary briefs from the perspective of international human rights law)
  • Immigration–Action for Revocation of Deportation Order that causes a separation of mother and child
    (Challenging the validity of a writ of deportation on the grounds of a drug conviction. Involved research and citation of a Canadian Supreme Court case to build a line of legal arguments against government’s action to cause a separation of mother and child)

  • Refugee Protection–Action for Revocation of Non-recognition of Refugee Status
    (Investigation and citation of refugees, circumstances of persecution in Uganda, standards of interpretation of the Refugee Convention in the Australian courts. Involved extensive research on newspaper articles(English, published in Uganda))

  • Anti-cancer Drug Victimization–Iressa drug adverse effect litigation
    (Damage claim against a Big Pharma and Japanese Government over the deaths and serious side effects cause by an anti-cancer drug Iressa. My responsibility in the plaintiff attorney litigation team included investigation of medical and pharmaceutical findings regarding criteria for determining the efficacy of anticancer drugs, preparation of briefs, and cross-examination of doctors. Such tasks relied heavily on my extensive research on English medical articles)