Practice Areas

• About Sakura International Law Office
• International divorce and related matters
• Corporate law / Legal advisory
• International inheritance and the will
• Labor and employment case
• Immigration and residence status
• General civil case

If you are a foreigner living in Japan and going through some legal troubles or if you are Japanese living in Japan but getting in legal trouble required to take international measures, the language and legal system and practice in different countries can likely be overwhelmingly immense obstacle making you feel at a loss what to do, preventing you from proceeding necessary steps for smooth and amicable solutions.

Our mission is that aiming to realize equal access to justice, we make every effort to provide the best legal support and practical solution to those who are in legal needs as expansively as possible, despite various barriers such as language, countries to live.

We are handling various cases in Family, Inheritance and Employment law matters as well as general civil law cases, especially international cases where either of the parties concerned is foreigner living Japan or overseas, disputed subjects such as inherited assets are located overseas, some labor cases happening in a foreign-affiliated company even based in Japan are being taken control by the headquarters in different countiries. Of course, we are happy to deal with domestic cases as well.

We have lots of experience to deal with international divorce and related matters such as damage compensation for marital affairs, child custody (Hague convention case related to international child abduction ), visitation, division of marital property, and child support, and so on. If you are a foreigner, thinking of divorcing your spouse ( irrespective of Japanese or non-Japanese), or if you are Japanese, thinking of getting divorced with your spouse with a foreign national, we welcome your consultation request.

For corporate clients , we provide high quality legal services such as drafting and reviewing various business relationship agreements and internal corporate regulations such as employment rules （Shugou-kisoku）, advice on establishing a compliance system (including sexual harassment), internal investigation of fraud, sexual harassment, power harassment, participation in management as an outside director or auditor, personnel management (including lectures and general legal advice on employment of foreigners and women’s participation in managerial position), drafting and review of English contracts, and support for foreign companies entering the Japanese market.

Especially our office has strength and lots of experience in the field of labor management related legal support including lectures and advice on employment of foreign nationals and utilization of women), preparation and review of English contracts, and support for foreign companies entering the Japanese market.

We deal with inheritance cases such as the division of inherited properties, drafting and executing the will, and other troubles related to inheritance domestically and internationally. International inheritance cases are, for example, the case where the foreign decedent left the properties located in Japan, the case where the Japanese decedent had the properties overseas, the case where some of the legal heirs are non-Japanese or living overseas, and the like.

We welcome legal consultation request both from workers and small-medium size companies.

For the worker’s side, we provide practical advice and represent them at the legal proceeding such as the mediation at the summary court, the labor tribunal, and the litigation in various kinds of labor issues ranging from wrongful dismissal, constructive resignation (coercive resignation) to harassment & bully in the workplace, wage theft, and so on.

For the business side, we can provide legal advice and support in many ways, especially concerning labor-management negotiation (collective bargaining ) and any other workplace troubles in the company employing foreign workers.

We are handling visas, meaning issues related to residence status for foreign workers. We can support you with various applications, such as renewal of visa (spouse visa and working visa) coming to an expiry date, other necessary steps for visa procedures when you left the company, and permanent visa, naturalization, and so on.

On top of the cases above, we also handle various general civil cases such as traffic accidents, real estate issues related to real estate transactions and problems involving the lease contract, and other damage claim cases caused by torts and default of the contract. We can also provide legal support for foreigners and international expats and their family members living in Japan.