Mori Hamada and Matsumoto (“MHM”) has endorsed the Viewpoint issued by the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (“ACCJ”) supporting marriage equality in Japan.  This endorsement is the first of its kind by a Japanese law firm.

At a joint press conference held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan on February 14, 2019 by multiple entities including the Japan In-House Lawyers Association (“JILA”) and Women in Law Japan (“WILJ”), Toru Ishiguro announced that MHM has endorsed the Viewpoint issued by the ACCJ supporting marriage equality in Japan.  This endorsement is the first of its kind from a Japanese law firm, and, after Morrison & Foerster LLP, is the second of its kind from any law firm with a practice in Japan.

The following is an excerpt from the announcement made by Toru Ishiguro at the event.

“MHM recently decided to endorse the ACCJ’s Viewpoint supporting marriage equality in Japan.  As a partnership of lawyers, MHM takes very seriously the issue of human rights under the Constitution of Japan, and, in that regard, we seek to protect and promote respect for the dignity of the individual, equality under the law, the right to pursue happiness, and other human rights held also by LGBT individuals and persons from other sexual minorities.  Further, as a firm of professionals engaged in corporate legal practice, we are naturally very familiar with business and corporate activities in general through the legal services we provide that broadly deal with issues important to our corporate clients.  We sincerely agree with the ACCJ’s Viewpoint supporting marriage equality in Japan, which constitutes a policy recommendation to the Japanese government from the perspectives of business and improving the international competitiveness of Japanese corporations.  In light of our unity with the ACCJ on this matter, MHM decided to endorse the ACCJ’s Viewpoint with the unanimous consent of our firm’s approximately 100 partners.  MHM has heard that our firm is the first Japanese law firm to endorse the ACCJ’s viewpoint.  We hope that this endorsement will inspire other law firms to take similar action, and together with the JILA and WILJ’s endorsement of the viewpoint of today, will encourage many other corporations and organizations to turn their attention to this issue, and will, in turn, lead as soon as possible to the establishment of laws through which the legislative branch of the Japanese government will permit same-sex marriage.  At the same time, MHM will continue to respect the individual dignity of all persons both inside and outside our firm and will contribute to the creation of an environment that enables all persons to thrive and succeed.”

The above joint press conference held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan has also been covered by the following media:

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190214/p2a/00m/0na/031000c
https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/entry/lgbtmarriage-fccj_jp_5c6533dde4b0233af971adbf

An announcement regarding the endorsement by MHM has also been published on the website of the Lawyers for LGBT & Allies Network:
http://llanjapan.org/viewpoint/850

The Viewpoint issued by the ACCJ can be viewed at the following link:
http://www.accj.or.jp/uploads/4/9/3/4/49349571/083018_marriageequality_v4_1.pdf