Originally from American Review of International Arbitration - ARIA

Preview Page

I. INTRODUCTION

This article arose out of two related events: a talk I delivered to a large number of Japanese business executives in Tokyo in October of 1990 under the auspices of the Japanese Commercial Arbitration Association; and my retention as a consultant in a current international commercial arbitration involving a large Japanese corporation. While gathering material for these tasks, I quickly became aware of both the limited acceptance enjoyed by international commercial arbitration in Japan and the paucity of material on this topic. This article addresses both these deficiencies. I begin by offering some theories as to why international commercial arbitration has not developed to any extensive degree in Japan, one of the leading economic nations of the world, and then put forth some suggestions for the acceptance and expanded use of international arbitration by the Japanese. In the appendix, I propose the basic outlines of an arbitral clause recommended for those drafting commercial contracts with Japanese firms.