Notice of the appointment of our new partners

Mr. Monya specializes in all areas of intellectual property law, mainly handling domestic and international dispute resolutions and transactions relating to patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and all other IP/IT related matters.

Kayo Kaneko advises domestic and international clients on a wide range of corporate matters, including M&A, governance, and regulatory-related issues. She is regularly involved in matters where corporate transactions or strategic decisions are shaped by regulatory constraints, institutional frameworks, and evolving legal regimes.
She brings a distinctive perspective informed by her experience at Japan’s Ministry of Justice, where she was engaged in legislative work relating to corporate law. This background enables her to approach legal issues not only from the standpoints of interpretation and compliance but also with an understanding of legislative intent and potential future developments in the regulatory environment.
Kayo also has substantial international experience in Europe, having studied and worked in Germany, including at a leading local law firm. Through this experience, she has gained practical insights into European legal frameworks and market practice, which she applies when advising on cross-border matters involving multiple jurisdictions and stakeholders.
In complex situations where multiple legal considerations intersect, she focuses on structuring key issues and framing the legal premises necessary for informed corporate decision-making. Clients value her ability to navigate uncertainty arising from regulatory change and to provide advice that remains grounded in both the institutional context and practical realities.

Kentaro provides non-profit entities such as general incorporated associations (Ippan Shadan Hojin), general incorporated foundations (Ippan Zaidan Hojin), public interest incorporated associations (Koeki Shadan Hojin), public interest incorporated foundations (Koeki Zaidan Hojin), corporations engaging in specified non-profit activities (NPO Hojin), incorporated educational institutions (Gakko Hojin), social welfare corporations (Shakai Fukushi Hojin) and medical corporations (Iryo Hojin) with advice on building governance systems and establishing compliance systems to ensure that they comply with the laws and regulations and to operate in accordance with the guidance of regulatory agencies.

Takahiro has been engaged in a wide variety of restructuring cases from out-of-court workouts to judicial bankruptcy proceedings. He has also handled disputes and litigations in relation to both bankruptcy cases and general corporate matters. In each case, his focus is on leading clients in the right direction and ultimately securing optimal solutions for them.

With two years of experience as a secondee to the credit division of one of Japan’s largest banks, he understands how creditors think and act when borrowers face insolvency situations.

He also spent three years in the U.S., attending law school for a year and working as a trainee at a U.S. law firm handling both litigation and M&A cases for two years. Utilizing this experience, he has advised clients in international M&A and other transactions.

Jun Koichibara served as a public prosecutor from 2010 to 2022. In that capacity, he was involved in investigations and trials which covered a wide range of matters, including embezzlement, breaches of trust, tax fraud, and other white-collar crimes. He also has worked as a Visiting Professional at the Chambers of the International Criminal Court.
With over eleven years of experience as a public prosecutor, he advises clients on various crisis management cases involving quality assurance fraud by manufacturers, employee misconduct, trade secret leaks, dealing with governmental authorities, and criminal cases, as well as cross-border cases involving foreign authorities.

Takahiro provides comprehensive legal advice on intellectual property transactions, primarily assisting Japanese and international clients in the entertainment, media, telecommunications, and IT industries. With deep copyright law expertise and practical experience in the entertainment sector, he offers unique perspectives to his clients. Takahiro’s previous roles at a global record label and the U.S. subsidiary of a major Japanese film studio have equipped him with a nuanced understanding of the entertainment business and its legal complexities. His practice covers a broad spectrum of services, such as advising on digital distribution licenses, joint production agreements, option agreements, artist agreements, and chain-of-title investigations. He is also adept at navigating issues that arise at the intersection of intellectual property rights and emerging technologies. Additionally, Takahiro has experience in resolving disputes related to intellectual property and information law.

Kazuki handles all types of restructuring cases, from out-of-court workouts to judicial bankruptcy proceedings; his clients range from small companies to large listed corporations, and operate in a diverse range of industries, such as manufacturing, healthcare, IT, entertainment, and energy.
He has extensive experience with legal disputes, litigation, and cross-border restructuring cases, in which he represents both debtors and creditors; his prior cases include debt collections, director accountability, and labor issues.
He was seconded to a government investment fund for approximately two years; while there, his work involved integration of major industry players, large corporate carve-outs, and investments in overseas infrastructure projects, among other matters, and provided him with a principal’s perspective, as well as extensive knowledge of and experience with M&A transactions.
Kazuki draws on agile problem-solving and negotiation skills cultivated in restructuring cases, and diverse perspectives gained through his secondment and studies in the United States, to help clients find solutions to even the most pressing legal and business issues.

Satoshi advises a wide range of clients, including banks and other financial institutions, asset management companies, and real estate developers, on a variety of real estate finance matters and real estate transactions. His experience includes structuring transactions utilizing trust beneficial interests and other financing schemes, as well as negotiating and drafting transaction documents across a broad spectrum of deals.
Drawing on his extensive experience, he provides practical and tailored support that accurately captures client needs and the characteristics of each transaction, contributing to the smooth and efficient execution of projects.

Takeo advises various types of clients in the field of labor and employment law.

The origins of his career lie in his experience working for Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tokai) prior to becoming a lawyer. He gained experience in a variety of roles, ranging from operational positions (as a bullet train operator, conductor, and station attendant on the Tokaido Shinkansen) to legal and corporate planning work within the management division.
Having experienced the reality of labor and employment issues, as well as the role of law in corporate management, he has consistently pursued an approach that goes beyond mere legal interpretation to provide “practical solutions” that consider the interests of all stakeholders.
He continuously handles diverse cases, including employment legal consultations, dispute resolution such as employment litigation and labor tribunal proceedings, employment compliance matters like harassment investigations and employee misconduct cases, and advising on HR systems for work-style reform and human capital utilization. Additionally, he has consistently engaged in complex cases involving labor and employment matters during M&A transactions, collective bargaining with labor unions, and dispute resolution at labor relations commissions.
He also has deep knowledge of international labor standards, based on his experience working as a consultant at the International Labor Organization (ILO) Office for Japan. His extensive engagement in the ILO’s “Business and Human Rights” project has made him an expert among the few Japanese attorneys who possess proficiency in both domestic labor laws and international labor standards.

He has extensive experience handling complex transactions, such as global IPOs and follow-on offerings, private investments in public companies (PIPEs), convertible bonds offerings, debt offerings, and other transactions of class shares, warrants, convertible bonds, and bonds. His involvement in numerous high-profile IPO projects, together with his secondment to the IPO division at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd., has strengthened his practical expertise and capabilities in Japanese IPOs.

He advises clients regarding financial regulations, including disclosure requirements under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, Tokyo Stock Exchange rules, and insider trading regulations. He also has experience in a broad range of cross-border matters, including both inbound and outbound transactions.

He was seconded to Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd. (IPO Division) from 2019 to 2021 and worked as an international associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP’s New York office from 2022 to 2023. He graduated from New York University School of Law (LL.M. in Corporation Law), Waseda Law School (J.D.), and Tokyo Metropolitan University (LL.B.).

He is admitted to practice in Japan and is a qualified lawyer in New York.

Salisa handles a broad range of corporate legal matters, particularly in the area of domestic and cross-border M&A transactions, as well as corporate and commercial transactions, including cross-border matters.

She has assisted a wide variety of clients in different industries—both international and domestic—on Thai-related legal matters including corporate restructuring and the drafting, negotiation, and advising of various contracts and transactions. Salisa also provides legal advice on issues such as contractual disputes. She offers clients guidance that is fully compliant with applicable laws and precisely tailored to meet each client’s specific needs.

Tatsuaki has extensive business turnaround experience, mainly representing debtors across diverse industries. He has consistently provided multifaceted solutions to the diverse legal and practical challenges that arise during restructuring, including negotiations with business partners, interactions with regulatory authorities, and securing necessary financing. He also advises creditors and sponsors, leveraging his deep understanding of debtor-side dynamics.
His strengths include pragmatic, goal-oriented solutions, prompt responses, and attentive client service. These qualities have supported his involvement in M&A, dispute resolution, and general corporate matters.
He has nearly two years of experience working at the N&A Bangkok office and has broadened his perspective through legal studies abroad, making him well-equipped to support clients in both domestic and international contexts.

Shigeki is a Corporate/M&A lawyer who advises on matters end to end—from complex transactions involving listed companies (business integrations, going‑private deals, capital and business alliances, and JV formations) to takeover defense, shareholder‑activism engagement, and day‑to‑day corporate counsel on matters such as governance, compliance, and shareholder‑meeting management.
Building on a long‑term secondment at a steel manufacturer, he brings an operating‑company perspective and deep industry insight—grounding legal analysis in real business and organizational dynamics and translating it into clear, usable courses of action. He also has hands‑on experience advising on antitrust merger review (merger control), with a growing focus on FDI screening and trade law. Whether a mission‑critical mandate or an everyday question, he works side by side with clients as an empathetic orchestrator to enable steady growth and disciplined business expansion across listed companies and core industrial sectors.

Fumihiko focuses his practice on assisting clients in global data protection law compliance for cross-border projects, which includes not only the EU GDPR but also the data protection laws in Asia, Oceania, North, Central, and South America, the Middle East, and Africa, and global privacy governance. In particular, he excels in supporting clients in emergency situations, such as global data breaches and exercise of data subject rights, as well as in complex data protection matters requiring insights into the security or medical field.

In the corporate field, Fumihiko has experience not only in traditional M&A transactions and intra-group reorganizations but also in a number of cross-border investments at a U.S. law firm and a general trading company. In addition to the establishment of corporate governance systems and operation of shareholder meetings, he also has extensive experience in advising on the design and revision of executive compensation systems. He is skilled at providing advice on complex legal issues from a multifaceted perspective, making use of his background in accounting and taxation.

In recent years, as a resident attorney in the firm’s Dusseldorf office, Fumihiko has been focusing on providing a wide range of support to the European affiliates of Japanese companies.

Kei is a partner in our M&A team. He handles many domestic and international M&As, business alliances, business successions, and defense against activism. Leveraging his experience of being seconded to an investment bank, he provides flexible and client-focused advice tailored to the characteristics of each case, taking into account factors such as whether the company is listed or unlisted, the nature of the business, and the transaction scheme. In the field of startup support, he provides advice on investment transactions involving both domestic and international startups, and also offers comprehensive legal assistance to startups for their day-to-day business matters.

Miki Tsubono is a LPC partner and the head of our Sapporo Office. He established our Sapporo office in April 2023 and has supported clients mainly in Hokkaido.

Leveraging the extensive and specialized skills of over 900 professionals at Nishimura & Asahi across 22 offices in Japan and abroad, he offers comprehensive business law services tailored to each client’s specific needs. His experience encompasses a broad range of business law areas including M&A, general corporate, finance, corporate crisis management, restructuring and insolvency, dispute, competition law, intellectual property law, information law, labor law, and wealth management.

Recently, he has handled numerous projects in the GX/energy and agribusiness sectors in Hokkaido, including business development, investment, and corporate/project finance.

He has extensive experience in M&A transactions including cross-border transactions and carve-out transactions as well as business succession transactions in Hokkaido.

He also has experience working for a new business development division of a Hokkaido company and provides services related to general corporate matters including daily legal consultations, support for contract drafting and review, business decisions, and general meetings of shareholders, as well as company internal training.

Kiyoshi has extensive experience in both domestic and international M&A transactions. His work includes advising on equity investments in listed companies, take‑private transactions, joint venture formations, private equity matters, multi‑jurisdictional cross‑border deals, strategic support for auction processes, supporting post-merger integration, M&A‑related litigation, and a wide range of other M&A‑related legal issues. Leveraging five years of sales experience at a trading house (sogo-shosha), he provides practical and commercially attuned legal advice that bridges business objectives and legal considerations.
Following his studies in the United States and subsequent tenure at the firm’s New York office, he has been involved in numerous U.S.-related M&A matters and is well positioned to address clients’ legal needs in the U.S. market. In addition, he has accumulated a total of five years of on‑the‑ground experience in Indonesia, enabling him to support clients across all phases of market entry, business expansion, and exit in and from Indonesia. He is also fluent in the Indonesian language, allowing him to assist in matters requiring communication in the local language.

Yuki Matsumoto provides comprehensive and hands-on legal support tailored to each client’s needs, regardless of industry or scale. His practice spans a wide range of areas including domestic and cross-border M&A, litigation, regulatory compliance, crisis management, strategic alliances, and corporate governance. He has particular expertise in the entertainment sector—especially gaming, esports, and immersive technologies such as VR/XR—where he offers practical, industry-specific advice based on a deep understanding of business models and legal frameworks.

He has also supported IPOs as an outside auditor for listed companies and draws on secondment experience at a major securities firm and both domestic and international companies. This background enables him to provide legal advice aligned with management and investor perspectives. Actively involved in startup support, he advises on fundraising, governance for listing preparation, and has led the introduction of standardized seed financing documentation in collaboration with industry associations.

In recent years, he has expanded his practice in intellectual property, representing clients in patent infringement litigation and assisting with tailored patent filings. He also engages in complex regulatory work, including lobbying and compliance related to the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations, as well as the Entertainment Business Act, bridging both policy and legal practice.

At Nishimura & Asahi, he leads the firm's Game and Esports Practice Team, overseeing legal services dedicated to the gaming industry. In recognition of his continued contribution to the field, he was the only lawyer awarded the “Esports Distinguished Service Award” at the Japan Esports Awards in January 2024.

As a partner in our M&A/Corporate practice group, Yukihiro’s practice focuses mainly on corporate governance, including institutional design, the operation of boards of directors, statutory auditors, and audit committees, internal control systems, and subsidiary management. He regularly assists clients in a broad range of industries and sectors with designing equity compensation schemes (including employee stock ownership plans and trust structures), disclosures, issues involving the Corporate Governance Code, shareholders’ meetings (including responses to activist engagement and shareholder proposals), and insider trading regulations. In addition, he provides strategic advice on critical management decisions relating to M&A transactions and business reorganizations, such as preparing legal opinions on directors’ duties of care.
He has extensive experience handling labor issues, such as drafting employment rules and internal policies, advising on dismissals and harassment incidents, and other HR matters, as well as representing clients in disputes with employees and labor unions.

Yuta has extensive experience with M&As, corporate reorganizations, and other corporate matters. He supports transactions by identifying the necessary expertise and responsiveness for each case. Yuta collaborates closely with relevant stakeholders to build effective, well-balanced teams, enabling the efficient and practical execution of matters.