Quoted in an article of Nikkei (in Japanese), “Beneficial Shareholders Excluded from Tokyo Damages Lawsuits, Overseas Investors Rebuff Ruling” (April 29, 2024)　

Ken Kiyohara was quoted in Nikkei article on legal issues, entitled “Beneficial Shareholders Excluded from Tokyo Damages Lawsuits, Overseas Investors Rebuff Ruling” (April 29, 2024), which reported on the Tokyo District Court’s 21 December 2023 Ruling. According to Nikkei, the Court ordered Toshiba to pay JPY100M damages for local institutional investor plaintiffs, while rejecting claims (approximately JPY57.2B in total) from overseas investors who had acquired shares through nominees in Japan but filed lawsuits in their names. In the article, Ken expressed a grave concern about the impact, should the Tokyo District Court’s ruling become a settled precedent, since it would create a substantial hurdle for overseas investors. The court allowed only nominee shareholders registered in the shareholder registry to bring damages claim against issuers as “persons who acquired securities” under Article 21-2 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act of Japan, but held that those investors which had acquired securities through sub-custodians, nominees in Japan lacked standing to bring such lawsuits in their names. 

Selected as Best Lawyers 2025　

Ken Kiyohara, our representative partner, has been recognized as among best lawyers in the “Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law” section and “Corporate Governance and Compliance Practice” for 15th edition of Best Lawyers in Japan.

IFIAR (International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators)　　

As a member of the Advisory Group to the Investor and Other Stakeholder Working Group (IOSWG), Ken Kiyohara participated in the panel discussions on "Limited vs Reasonable Assurance" and “Audit Committees Supervision of Corporate Reporting and Audit” held as 2024 Plenary Meeting of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR) (April 2024).

Quoted in an article of Bloomberg, “Bidding War Over Japan’s Roland DG Raises Governance Questions” (March 22, 2024)　

Selected as Best Lawyers 2024　　

Ken Kiyohara, our representative partner, has been recognized as among best lawyers in the “Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law” section and “Corporate Governance and Compliance Practice” for 14th edition of Best Lawyers in Japan.

Advocacy Report by the “Working Group on Corporate Disclosure” of the Financial System Council on December 27, 2022, the Financial Services Agency of Japan posted on its website a Report by the “Working Group on Corporate Disclosures” of the Financial System Council, in furtherance of the Report by the Working Group, dated as of June 13, 2022, addressing remaining discussion points of streamlining “quarterly reporting” by Japanese companies and updates to sustainability reporting regime. Once an English version or summary of the Report is made available, we will post an update. Ken Kiyohara has continued to have participate in the discussions of these Reports as a member of the Working Group on Corporate Disclosure.　

Quoted in an article of Dealreporter, “Tokyo urged to call on companies to step up English disclosure of securities reports” (September 16, 2022), in connection with strategic importance of the IR and urgent need to address negative impact of inattentiveness by many Japanese companies to the significance of full disclosure in English.　

Quoted in an article of Dealreporter, “Tokyo Seeks more aggressive disclosure guidelines on strategic shareholdings following experts’ report” (September 7, 2022), in connection with proposed revisions to the disclosure rules, concerning strategic shareholdings and the impact.　

Report by the “Working Group on Corporate Disclosure” of the Financial System Council　

On June 13, 2022, the Financial Services Agency of Japan posted on its website a Report by the “Working Group on Corporate Disclosures” of the Financial System Council, addressing such subjects as sustainability reporting by Japanese companies, disclosure of corporate governance, and quarterly reporting. Summary of the report in English is available here.
This is the second time that Ken Kiyohara has participated in the discussions as a member of the Working Group on Corporate Disclosure. The previous report by the Working Group issued in June 2018 is here.

IFIAR (International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators)　　

As a member of the Advisory Group to the Investor and Other Stakeholder Working Group (IOSWG), Ken Kiyohara participated in the panel discussions on investors’ and other stakeholders’ expectations to auditors and audit regulators under the “new normal” (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world), held as a part of the virtual 2022 Plenary Meeting of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR) (April 26 2022).
See here.

Selected as Best Lawyers 2023　

Ken Kiyohara, our representative partner, has been recognized as among best lawyers in the “Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law” section and “Corporate Governance and Compliance Practice” for 13th edition of Best Lawyers in Japan. 

Quoted in an article of Dealreporter, “Toshiba urged to hold open and fair talks with PE firms, not to repeat las year’s mistake” (April 11, 2022)　　

Quoted in an article of Dealreporter, “Toshiba viewed unlikely to go ahead with break-up plan; fresh start needed” (March 24, 2022)　

IFIAR (International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators)　　

As a member of the Advisory Group to the Investor and Other Stakeholder Working Group (IOSWG), Ken Kiyohara participated in the panel discussions on investors’ expectation in the area of auditor responsibilities for addressing fraud risks, held as a part of the virtual 2021 Plenary Meeting of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR) (April 21 2021).  See here.

Selected as Best Lawyers 2022　

Ken Kiyohara, our representative partner, has been recognized as among best lawyers in the “Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law” section for 12th edition of Best Lawyers in Japan. For more details, please refer to the Best Lawyers Website. 

Quoted in an article of Dealreporter, “LINE and Nichii Gakkan buyouts highlight loopholes in M&A guidelines and differences between Japanese and US court processes, lawyers say” (July 24, 2020)　

Selected as Best Lawyers 2021　

Ken Kiyohara, our representative partner, has been recognized as among best lawyers in the “Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law” section for 11th edition of Best Lawyers in Japan. For more details, please refer to the Best Lawyers Website. 

Quoted in an article of Dealreporter, “Japan to lower notification threshold as part of expanded scrutiny of foreign investments” (10 October, 2019)　

Quoted in an article of Dealreporter, “Japan’s new METI guidelines aim to curb unfettered behavior by controlling shareholders” (July 24, 2019)　

IFIAR (International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators)　

Participated in the panel discussions, “Perspectives on Audit Committee Activities,” and also a breakout session, at a plenary meeting of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR), as a member of the Advisory Group to the Investor and Other Stakeholder Working Group, (May 1 & 2, 2019, Rhodes, Greece)