Team size: 15

What are the key projects that you have been involved in over the past twelve months?

Over the past year, my focus as Head of Japan Legal has centered on navigating unprecedented regulatory shifts and enabling flagship AI innovations. A major project was leading our cross-functional legal strategy for the Mobile Software Competition Act, effectively clarifying global versus local roles.

Concurrently, I paved the way for critical AI product features and strategic partnerships. This included executing a first-of-its-kind data licensing agreement for AI development and closing a significant AI partnership.

Please describe a situation where your advice had a significant impact on business outcomes or objectives.

My advice significantly impacted business outcomes during the negotiation and execution of several first-of-their-kind strategic partnerships with prominent domestic technology and content platforms. These alliances were critical to accelerating our local AI initiatives and expanding our digital ecosystem in Japan. As these transactions involved novel applications of emerging technologies, no established legal playbook existed.

I led the effort to structure these complex agreements, navigating uncharted territories in intellectual property, data usage rights and competition law. The primary challenge was balancing our ambitious innovation objectives with the rapidly evolving regulatory landscape, while concurrently bridging the expectations of our global leadership and local partners. By crafting innovative and robust legal frameworks, I enabled the successful closure of these landmark deals. This not only unlocked essential capabilities for our future product development, but also established a scalable, compliant template for future strategic alliances, directly advancing our long-term business roadmap in the region.

What are the key trends that in-house counsel should be monitoring over the coming months?

In-house counsel must proactively monitor the rapid evolution of “digital sovereignty” and AI regulation. In Japan, we are focusing heavily on the AI Promotion Act and ongoing debates surrounding AI copyright and training data disclosure. Legal teams can no longer simply react to new laws; we must proactively engage with regulators, publishers, and lawmakers to co-design business-friendly, responsible AI frameworks. The trend of unique local data and competition rules requires us to be increasingly sophisticated in managing the tension between a unified global product and a fragmented local legal landscape.

AI remains at the forefront of conversations about the future. How can in-house counsel ensure the successful integration of legal tech, while maintaining the human element?

To successfully integrate legal tech, leaders must champion it proactively. I spearheaded a global AI adoption initiative for approximately 150 legal professionals across APAC, EMEA and LATAM. In Japan, we successfully pioneered the use of tools like NotebookLM to synthesise complex privacy guidelines and deployed custom AI translator agents to dramatically cut contract review times. We maintain the “human element” by viewing AI strictly as an efficiency multiplier, not a replacement for judgment. By automating high-volume synthesis, we free up our human counsel to focus on what matters most: ethical decision-making, relationship-building with regulators and cultural translation.