ABSTRACT
Despite decades of glacial economic growth (World Bank, 2016 1 ), relegation into third place among the world’s economies (BBC, 2011), and per capita GNI underperforming the Asian city states of Hong Kong and Singapore (World Bank, 2016 2 ), Japan remains an economic giant in Asia and indeed globally, with a GDP more than twice the size of India’s and nearly a third bigger than Germany’s. Moreover, it is hardly an economic loner, having signed free trade agreements with 15 countries and with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), embarked upon negotiations with six more, including a trilateral partnership with China and Korea (MOFA, 2016), and ratified the now-threatened Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement before any other participant. In the field of international arbitration, however, Tokyo lags behind established international arbitral sites in Europe and North America and newer ones closer to home in Asia.
