Ohara & Furukawa, Author at Ohara & Furukawa

July 1, 2016

How are child support payments calculated in Japan?

The basic premise behind child support payments in Japan is to give the child a standard of living enjoyed by the parent with the obligation to pay child support. These payments can either be determined by a government schedule or through a calculation. Because court-ordered child support payments are based on a formula and are fairly easy to predict, it usually allows divorcing parties to agree on the amount of child support payments relatively quickly.

June 29, 2016

What are the steps in the naturalization application process?

There are three steps to applying for naturalization in Japan: filling out the application, review by the local branch of the Ministry of Justice and final certification of the documents in Tokyo. Each of these stages can take months to complete so applicants should be forewarned that citizenship is not granted quickly in Japan.

June 27, 2016

What is a Choice of Law clause?

A choice of law clause, also called a “governing law clause” or “proper law clause,” is a clause used in contracts to identify the type of law that should be applied to interpret the contract. Since the laws of various countries can differ in how they interpret contracts, without a choice of law clause, a contract may be valid when interpreted under one country’s laws but may be found invalid under the laws of another country.

June 23, 2016

What is typically included in a Japanese employment contract?

Employment contracts in Japan generally define the relationship between the employee, the job and the company. In Japan, an employment contract must clearly state the period of the labor contract, the workplace, job duties, the existence of overtime, the start and end time as well as days off, the wage and rules regarding dismissal. It is the duty of the employee to check the contract before signing to ensure that he or she agrees with all the terms. Therefore, it is important to have the contract translated if it is in a language that the employee cannot read.