New Partners
and Counsel

Nobuko IKEDA

• Partner
•  Hanoi

Nobuko specializes in investment transactions in Southeast Asia, particularly in Vietnam, where she lives. She also handles a wide range of general corporate matters. She provides professional and practical advice to her clients based on her experience in various investment projects while working at a government-affiliated financial institution.

Toru KONISHI

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Toru’s strength lies in compliance-related matters, with a focus on regulations related to listed companies. In addition to negotiations with regulatory authorities and highly contentious intercompany negotiations, he handles a wide range of corporate matters and disputes.

Satoshi INAMI

• Partner
•  Singapore

Satoshi has dealt with crisis management/compliance, dispute resolution, labor, general corporate matters in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries leveraging his extensive experience working at the headquarters of Japanese companies with global branches across the world.

Kaedeko TAKAGI

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Kaedeko has focused her practice on domestic and international litigation involving a wide variety of technology, media, and entertainment matters, with emphasis on IP infringement litigation and litigation related to the development of IT systems and software applications.

Yukiko TOMIMATSU

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Yukiko is an expert in international economic law, litigation and dispute resolution, with a primary focus on investment, trade and cartel-related matters. She has considerable experience in handling complex cross-border matters involving diverse regulations and measures, and disputes in areas such as ESG and the energy sector.

Akira ARIMATSU

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Akira has significant experience in internal investigations of a variety of white-collar crimes. She also provides practical advice on labeling regulations based on her five years of experience working at Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency.

Kenta OGATA

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Kenta engages in crisis management in general, with a focus on responding to compliance violations such as violations of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and accounting fraud, and handles general corporate legal affairs related to M&A, Taiwanese legal affairs.

Gai MATSUSHITA

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Gai is a partner in our IP practice. With a background in engineering, he focuses on intellectual property, IT, AI, data, and other cutting-edge technology related matters, particularly domestic and international disputes.

Keisuke KAMIYA

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Keisuke is a partner in our corporate team, handling many domestic and international M&A transactions. He also has a wealth of experience of handling general corporate issues arising in the course of daily business.

Yuko OGAWA

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Yuko has extensive experience handling litigation, provisional dispositions, and other court proceedings, as well as alternative dispute resolution procedures in Japan.

Junko WATANABE

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Junko assists companies in addressing sustainability from a global perspective, including international human rights law, and sustainability-related laws in Europe and Asia. She was ranked third in the field of Business and Human Rights on the list of the Nikkei’s Most Successful Lawyers in 2023, an annual award given to recipients who are selected by corporations.

Yohei OMATA

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Yohei is a partner in the M&A/Corporate practice group. He handles an extensive range of domestic and cross-border M&A transactions, with particular expertise in public deals, such as tender offer bids, and in private equity transactions.

Seita KINOSHITA

• Partner
•  Shanghai

Representative of the Shanghai office. Utilizing his experience in M&A, corporate law, crisis management, and dispute/litigation matters, Seita provides a wide range of support for Chinese and other overseas companies investing/expanding their businesses in Japan.

Bonso MORIMOTO

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Bonso has extensive experience in domestic and cross-border M&A and general corporate matters, and is also well-versed in investment support for startups. His strengths lie in an ability to respond strategically and flexibly to client needs, with a focus on communication.

CAO Tran Nghia

• Partner
•  Ho Chi Minh City

Tran Nghia is a partner at our Ho Chi Minh City office. With over 15 years of experience as both in-house and external counsel, he has advised leading Vietnamese and multinational corporations on complex M&A, real estate, construction, and renewable energy projects.

Shogo EGUCHI

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Shogo is a partner in our Corporate/M&A practice. He specializes in international commercial transactions, with a focus on M&A. His strengths include handling cross-border transactions, drawing on his qualifications in Japan, the U.S., and England and Wales.

Daichi IINAGA

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Daichi handles a broad range of corporate legal matters, particularly in the area of domestic/cross-border M&A transactions, including acquisitions and sales by private equity funds, business integration and other M&A transactions involving publicly listed companies, and joint venture transactions.

Tomonori MAEZAWA

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Tomonori is a partner in our M&A and corporate team. Leveraging his experience at a major automobile manufacturer, he focuses on providing legal support for M&A in the automotive industry.

Keiichi MASAYASU

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Keiichi advises clients on all aspects of corporate matters, including M&A and corporate governance, focusing on takeover defense and shareholder activism. He provides comprehensive solutions based on state-of-the-art theories and practices.

Isao TAKAHASHI

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Isao is a partner in our Finance/Real Estate practice. His main practice areas include real estate transactions and securitization, REITs, financial instruments business registration, and compliance with financial regulations.

Tatsuya TSUNODA

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Tatsuya specializes in a broad range of competition law and regulatory matters, including digital platform regulations, and also advises both Japanese and international clients on transactions and disputes in related areas.

Takanori UESHIMA

• Partner
•  Tokyo

Takanori is a partner with experience handling domestic/cross-border M&A transactions and other general corporate matters, and extensive expertise in cross-border M&A transactions; he excels at handling a wide range of complex deals in a timely, flexible manner.

NGUYEN Tuan Anh

• Partner
•  Hanoi

Tuan Anh is a partner in our Hanoi Office. He is experienced in a wide range of practice areas, with a focus on cross-border M&A, corporate matters, labor law, food safety, and data privacy in Vietnam.

Sang-Kyun BONG (Rafael)

• Counsel
•  New York

Rafael has worked on cross-border financial transactions by both Japanese and international clients with a focus on real estate, project finance, construction & infrastructure, energy, renewables and natural resources. He is qualified in New York and Ontario (Canada).

Wenxian CAI

• Counsel
•  Tokyo

Wenxian specializes in China-related cross-border transactions, focusing on M&A, corporate governance, general corporate law, and compliance, and has extensive experience across the technology, manufacturing, finance, and real estate sectors.

Kyle JOHNSON

• Counsel
•  Tokyo

Kyle has experience in corporate and commercial matters with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and cross-border transactions. Before joining Nishimura & Asahi, Kyle worked for an international law firm and also in-house on secondment to a large Japanese energy company.

Eugene LEE

• Counsel
•  Singapore

Eugene specializes in construction law and international arbitration. He has represented clients in disputes involving infrastructure, power and hospitality projects, with capabilities to handle complex delay and defects claims requiring expert evidence. He also has substantial experience in front-end matters and has advised on projects such as data centers, pharmaceutical plants, semiconductor plants and other infrastructure projects in Japan and throughout Asia.

Maximilian LENTZ

• Counsel
•  Frankfurt / Düsseldorf

Maximilian is Counsel at our Frankfurt office. He has significant experience in advising clients on cross-border M&A, commercial matters, and venture capital investments, as well as on FDI.

Fumihiko SAWADA

• Counsel
•  Frankfurt / Düsseldorf

Fumihiko is experienced in advising on multi-jurisdictional data protection matters, including EU GDPR compliance and global data breach matters. Backed by his extensive experience in corporate/M&A and background in accounting/taxation, he also assists both Japanese headquarters and European affiliates in a wide range of legal matters.

Takahiro SUGAUCHI

• Counsel
•  Tokyo

Takahiro advises on domestic and cross-border intellectual property transactions, primarily in the entertainment, media, telecommunications, and IT sectors. He possesses copyright law expertise and extensive practical experience in the entertainment industry.

Toshihiro SUZUKI

• Counsel
•  Tokyo

Toshihiro handles various matters including crisis management, disputes, financial regulation law, M&A, as well as international matters, using his experience in the legal department of a general trading company, the Financial Services Agency, and our New York office, to consider the real needs of our clients.

Kazuki TAKADA

• Counsel
•  Tokyo

Kazuki is handling restructuring and insolvency, M&A, disputes and litigations, labor issues, and a diverse range of other cases. With experience as a secondee at a governmental PE fund, he approaches problems from a wide range of perspectives.

Satoshi TANABE

• Counsel
•  Tokyo

Satoshi’s main areas of practice are in structured finance/securitization, real estate finance and real estate transactions, especially in drafting, negotiating and advising on various contracts and transactions. He is devoted to providing efficient and practical support to our clients.