Asia Legal Update Fourth Quarter 2025 (October - December)

By leveraging his experience abroad and his secondment to a trading company in Japan, Hiroki Kaga has experience in complex cross-border transactions. His strength is the knowledge and experience of cutting-edge practices in the M&A, start-up and private equity area.

Aya advises on a wide range of corporate matters, including corporate governance, shareholder meetings, compliance, and corporate litigation. She also focuses on consumer law areas such as the Consumer Contract Act, the Act Against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations, and the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions.
Leveraging experience primarily handling civil cases as a judge, she provides practical and strategic advice with a perspective informed by litigation . Drawing on international experience cultivated through her secondment to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Embassy of Japan in Canada), she handles cross-border matters with flexibility and precision.

Having worked as a partner in a prestigious law firm in China for about 3 years, in September 2010, Cuiping decided to come to Japan and work as one of the leaders of our China Practice Team, so as to take a step closer to her clients willing to expand their business globally and to help resolve their foreign legal issues more timely and actively. As an international lawyer specialized in the legal and business practice of both China and Japan, she has participated in plenty of investment and M&A projects between China and Japan using her fluent Chinese and Japanese. She also helps her clients to expand their business both domestically and globally using her strong social network established via numerous cross-border projects. Besides general corporate practice and corporate governance, she also devotes herself to cutting-edge legal issues such as the protection of data or personal information, presents creative resolutions to her clients, and provides them with continuous support on their overseas business. She also brings the latest legal news regarding China and Japan to her clients proactively not only by publishing articles, but also by attending multiple business seminars as a speaker.

With a focus on Japanese companies investing in China, Yueting Lu has provided support in a wide variety of matters. She draws on her extensive experience and thorough understanding of the Chinese legal system and legal practices as wells as of China’s changing legal, political, and business climate. Recently, she has assisted in supporting global companies in their establishment of compliance systems and in resolving issues in the areas of data and personal information. In addition to assisting in China law-related matters for Japanese corporate clients of the firm, she also provides support in assisting to Chinese companies that do business in Japan.

She previously lived in Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore and is fluent in English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Malay. She has extensive experience and local expertise to advise clients from both legal and practical perspective.

She was admitted to the Malaysian Bar in 2013 and is the managing partner of our strategic alliance firm in Malaysia, WM Leong & Co. She is also a partner at Nishimura & Asahi (Singapore) LLP.

Michelle’s practice covers advising on various M&A and joint venture transactions across a large range of industries including IT, manufacturing, finance, real estate, retail trade, and energy. She also regularly advises clients on other corporate and commercial matters such as licensing, doing business, labour, data privacy and protection, and regulatory compliance. Prior to joining N&A, Michelle was a lawyer with one of the top law firms in the Philippines. Through her experience, she gives clients invaluable insights into Philippine culture and enhances their understanding of the legal and commercial practices in the country, making clients better equipped to do business in the Philippines.

Bayfront Law is Nishimura & Asahi Singapore Office’s counterpart in the Nishimura & Asahi - Bayfront Law Alliance, which is based on Singapore law.

Bayfront Law is Nishimura & Asahi Singapore Office’s counterpart in the Nishimura & Asahi - Bayfront Law Alliance, which is based on Singapore law.

Bang is a partner with more than 20 years of professional legal experience. He joined the Ho Chi Minh City Office in 2010, and was the first Vietnamese lawyer to join Nishimura & Asahi; his experience spans a wide range of matters, including a diverse selection of notable, complex projects and disputes. Bang specializes in dispute resolution, inbound investments, corporate & commercial matters, M&A, banking, real estate & construction, and labor. He also has significant experience advising on international trade, unfair competition, securities, capital markets transactions, project financing transactions, infrastructure projects, and energy projects. Prior to joining the firm, Bang gained advisory experience working at law firms and  for multinational corporations. He is a regular contributor to numerous legal magazines, and has participated actively in the training of law students and legal practitioners as a part-time lecturer in Vietnam since 2009. Bang is also a regular speaker at seminars and events organized by professional legal institutions and organizations.

Bang graduated from Hanoi University of Law in 2001 and earned an LL.M. in International Law from the Transnational Law & Business University in Seoul, Korea, in 2006. He later completed an LL.M. in U.S. Law at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University in Virginia, and an LL.M. in International Business Law and U.S. Law from Northeastern University School of Law in 2024. In 2025, he obtained a Ph.D. in International Relations from Selinus University of Sciences and Literature. He also obtained an EMBA from Quantic School of Business & Technology in 2026. He currently is pursuing Ph.D. programs in International Law and Business in the United States.

Bang is a CiArb‑accredited mediator, an FCIArb, and a listed arbitrator for both the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC) and the Thailand Arbitration Center (THAC). He is also a member of the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association and the Vietnam Bar Federation, and is fluent in English and Vietnamese. 

Chambers and Partners recognized Bang as a leading lawyer in Corporate/M&A and Real Estate, and he was named one of Asian Legal Business’s “Asia Super 50 Disputes Lawyers 2025.”

Huong started her career at leading local and regional law firms with diversified national and international practices. In 2009, Huong began pursuing a master’s degree from the University of Melbourne, and after doing so, continued her legal career at a number of law firms. Her areas of expertise include M&A transactions, labor law, corporate law, real estate transactions, restructuring and insolvency, and compliance. Huong often advises clients on cross-border M&A deals in relation to real estate, banking and finance, services, and manufacturing. She also regularly supports clients in regard to the formation and registration of internal labor regulations, dealing with labor disputes, labor contract performance, and retrenchment. In addition, Huong assists clients with the incorporation, operation, restructuring, and termination of their businesses in Vietnam, including with respect to day-to-day commercial business, corporate governance, and compliance. In these areas, clients value her extensive experience and detailed knowledge of local laws and culture, as well as her timely, responsive, and effective support.

Clients value Isamu’s unique insight into the challenges and uncertainties that they face in a dynamic, growing region. In addition to his experience in Vietnam, he has practiced in Tokyo and various other Asian locations, including a secondment to an Indian law firm. He is known for leveraging his international experience and cultural insights into the local legal and commercial practices to resolve complex, cross-border legal issues in a timely manner, working closely with local counsel. He advises on investments at all stages, from inception to post-closing operations, as well as dispute resolution.

Taeko heads the firm’s India practice, and advises Japanese corporations investing and doing business in India, with a special focus on dispute resolution (litigation and arbitration), and regulatory work (criminal and competition related matters). She also handles jurisdictions such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the UAE, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, and other countries in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

As an attorney belonging to a Japanese law firm, Masao is the only long-term resident attorney in the Middle East. From Dubai, a hub in the MENA region, he covers a broad area including the Gulf countries, Iran, Israel, Turkey, Egypt, etc.
 
 Masao frequently deals with legal issues inherent to the Middle East, such as commercial agency laws, foreign investment restrictions, and economic sanctions, and has been involved in numerous Middle-East-related seminars and articles.
 
 In the Middle East, where divergences between laws and practices are a frequent issue, he is able to provide practical advice that goes beyond a mere understanding of the contents of applicable laws, drawing on his diverse range of experience and personal connections in the region.
 
 Masao has close relationships with major law firms in each country and coordinates with such firms in an appropriate and timely manner, including controlling attorneys’ fees.
 
 He has also been involved in infrastructure projects worldwide, including at a Japanese investment and trading company and a UK law firm to which he was seconded.