Usually parties will negotiate among themselves through email before resorting to the legal process to enforce a debt. If these negotiations fail, often the content of these email exchanges becomes the evidence in a legal case against the debtor. Therefore, it is important to draft emails in a way that maximizes their potential use in future litigation.
The best way to do this is to write emails in a way that clearly establishes the debtor’s full obligation. For example, an email that states “when will you pay the $1 million you owe our company for invoices dated _____ and ________” is much better than an email that simply asks “when will you pay us?” The debtor’s response to the former email can be used as solid proof of an obligation to pay the entire debt, while the latter email can only be used to establish that the debtor owes some amount of money to the creditor.
If you have any questions about enforcing a debt in Japan, please contact our office to set up a legal consultation.