Myth and legal reality of alternative dispute resolution in Japan

The topic might look like carrying coals to Manchester given the (allegedly) almost ubiquitous notion of the Japanese being shy to sue each other in a court of law.2 This notion is, however, something of the past.3 In nowadays Japan it has become quite common to have an open dispute in court.4 Maybe the actual numbers of registered claims in court in per capita not as high as in Germany or the US, but the trend is pointing towards a steady increase in court cases also in Japan5,6. Moreover, the traditional Japanese trend opting for conciliation in or outside of courts7 had maybe not so much to do with a peculiar culture but rather with the excessive costs in time and money to bring cases to court.8,9 Therefore it is worthwhile to investigate into the current state of alternative dispute resolution in Japan in private law disputes.