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Baker McKenzie (Gaikokuho Joint Enterprise) advises various multinationals on a range of tax and transfer pricing issues in Japan including tax restructuring, planning, litigation and customs matters. The department also has a comprehensive tax, transfer pricing and economics practice, which fields practitioners with extensive in-house government experience; several team members have held key positions in Japan's tax authority. Edwin Whatley leads the practice and is highly experienced in both US and Japanese tax law; Shinichi Kobayashi is also a name to note and advises on a range of tax and transfer pricing issues.

DLA Piper provides advice to high-profile clients including Avex Group Holdings, Marsh & McLennan Companies, and The Gemological Institute of America. Specialising in complex matters, the team works closely with the international tax group regularly advising on international and domestic tax restructuring issues and supply chain remodelling as well as disputes relating to customs duties and consumption tax for multinational clients. Daniel Chan and Makiko Kawamura jointly lead the practice; Kawamura focuses on international tax issues including tax structuring, advisory work, customs duties, complex consumption tax matters and tax disputes with the National Tax Agency.

The full-service practice at Jones Day fields experienced tax lawyers who act for international and domestic clients. The team works closely with the other departments as well as the firm's international offices, particularly in the US, to provide expertise in cross-border transactions with a strong emphasis on outbound transactions and the restructuring of cross-border operations. Practice head Koichi Inoue advises a range of clients on the tax aspects of transactions and restructuring work, as well as representing taxpayers in complex administrative proceedings and high-stakes tax litigation. In a recent highlight, the team assisted MassMutual with the tax aspects of its sale of a stake in its Japanese life insurance subsidiary to Nippon Life for JPY104bn.

Withers Japan, Zeirishi Houjin provides clients with 'good response times and business acumen' and pairs local expertise with global experience. The team advises on cross-border transactions across the Asia Pacific region and is led by the 'brilliant' Eric Roose, who is an 'extremely commercial and responsive problem solver'; he specialises in structuring inbound and outbound Asian market investments and is an expert at adapting global tax treaties and planning techniques to the Japanese market. The team also includes tax advisors Takeo Mizutani, Chizuko Tomita, and licensed tax accountant Shingo Iizuka, who recently joined from Deloitte Tohmatsu LLC. In a recent highlight, the department advised Pacific Alliance Group on the tax elements of the development of a large mixed-use commercial and retail office complex in central Tokyo.

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