{"id":600,"date":"2019-06-26T02:30:22","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T17:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/?post_type=professional&#038;p=600"},"modified":"2026-02-04T16:40:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T07:40:45","slug":"toru-watanabe","status":"publish","type":"professional","link":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/","title":{"rendered":"Toru Watanabe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As a partner, Toru Watanabe practices mainly in the area of corporate law. He provides corporate support, from both the offensive and defensive perspective, in various M&amp;A, squeeze-outs, shareholder meetings, response to activists, management disputes, corporate litigation, commercial non-litigation disputes, shareholder derivative actions, capital policy, risk management, corporate governance, and many other areas.&nbsp; He has also been appointed by the Commercial Division of the Osaka District Court as an inspector for shareholder meetings, as well as an inspector of operations. general meetings and business execution by the Commercial Specialty Division of the Osaka District Court. Based on this experience, he has served as a Bar Examiner on the subject of corporate law and has lectured a Visiting Professor at the law school of his alma mater, Kyoto University, on corporate law practice.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, Mr. Watanabe has been certified as a Certified Fraud Examiner by the Japan Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and has been focusing on dealing with matters relating to corporate misconduct.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Work Highlights<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/news\/6015\/\">Additional\u00a0Investigation\u00a0into\u00a0the\u00a0Misconduct\u00a0in Submarine\u00a0Repair\u00a0Work\u00a0at\u00a0Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.\u00a0by\u00a0the\u00a0Special Investigation Committee<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/news\/5833\/\">A Provisional Disposition between a Japanese and Foreign-affiliated Company under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/news\/5507\/\">HARIMA-KYOWA CO., LTD.: Investigation by the Special Investigation Committee<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/news\/5512\/\">The Privatization of I-PEX Inc. through an MBO<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/news\/5269\/\">Kawasaki Heavy&nbsp;Industries,&nbsp;Ltd.:&nbsp;Investigation by&nbsp;the&nbsp;Special Investigation Committee<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/news\/4939\/\">Investigation into a Car Manufacturing Company concerning Fraudulent Activities<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/news\/4923\/\">Investigation by the Third-party Committee into IR Japan Holdings, Ltd.\u3000<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/news\/4916\/\">The Kansai Electric Power Company, Incorporated: Investigation by a Third-party Committee<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/news\/4911\/\">Response to an Unsolicited Bid Proposal<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/news\/4872\/\">Resona Holdings, Inc.\u2019s Acquisition of 100% of the Ownership of Kansai Mirai Financial Group<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/news\/4868\/\">Internal Investigation regarding the Leak of Personal Information at a Major Real Estate Management Company<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/news\/4848\/\">DAIWA HOUSE INDUSTRY CO., LTD.: Investigation by an External Investigation Committee<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Investigation regarding a violation of the Building Standards Act by Daiwa House Industry (as an external investigative committee member)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sale by a major Japanese manufacturer of its local subsidiary in Germany<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Consolidation of the three regional banks in the Kansai area \u2013 Kansai Urban Bank, Kinki Osaka Bank, and Minato Bank<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Establishment of a joint venture company between the Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Inspector of shareholders meetings of Diamond Electric MFG.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Acquisition of 100% ownership of Daihatsu Motor by Toyota Motor<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Investigation of corporate misconduct of a Japanese textile manufacturer (as a third-party committee member)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Education \uff06 Professional Career<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>Apr 2025 &#8211; Present<\/td><td>Assumed the Position of the Representative Partner of Kitahama Partners<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Jan 2020<\/td><td>Kitahama Partners, Representative<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Jan 2018 <\/td><td>Qualified as a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Jan 1998 &#8211; Present<\/td><td>Kitahama Partners, Partner<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Apr 1993<\/td><td>Admitted to practice in Japan; Joined Kitahama Partners<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Mar 1993<\/td><td>Graduated from the Legal Training and Research Institute of the Supreme Court of Japan<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Mar 1991<\/td><td>Kyoto University (LL.B.)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other Activities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>2020 &#8211; 2022<\/td><td>Adjunct Professor, Kyoto University Law School (Corporate Law Practice) <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2017 &#8211; 2019<\/td><td>Visiting Professor, Kyoto University Law School (Corporate Law Practice)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2009 &#8211; 2016<\/td><td>Adjunct Professor, Kyoto University Law School (Case Study for Corporate Law)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2011 &#8211; 2013<\/td><td>National Bar Examination Examiner (in charge of Commercial Code)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Memberships<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Compliance Committee Member of Japan Mint<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Former Vice-Chairperson, Committee on Procedures for Civil Cases, Japan Federation of Bar Associations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Member, The Study Group on Legal Systems, etc. on the Collection of Evidence, The Japan Institute of Business Law<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":5,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-600","professional","type-professional","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Toru Watanabe -partner - Kitahama Partners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a partner, Toru Watanabe practices mainly in the area of corporate law. He provides corporate support, from both the offensive and defensive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Toru Watanabe -partner - Kitahama Partners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a partner, Toru Watanabe practices mainly in the area of corporate law. He provides corporate support, from both the offensive and defensive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kitahama Partners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-04T07:40:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/\",\"name\":\"Toru Watanabe -partner - Kitahama Partners\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-25T17:30:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-04T07:40:45+00:00\",\"description\":\"As a partner, Toru Watanabe practices mainly in the area of corporate law. He provides corporate support, from both the offensive and defensive\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Toru Watanabe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/\",\"name\":\"Kitahama Partners\",\"description\":\"Kitahama Partners strives to contribute to society and the public good by consistently providing the highest quality legal services.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Kitahama Partners\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/favicon.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/favicon.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Kitahama Partners\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Toru Watanabe -partner - Kitahama Partners","description":"As a partner, Toru Watanabe practices mainly in the area of corporate law. He provides corporate support, from both the offensive and defensive","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Toru Watanabe -partner - Kitahama Partners","og_description":"As a partner, Toru Watanabe practices mainly in the area of corporate law. He provides corporate support, from both the offensive and defensive","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/","og_site_name":"Kitahama Partners","article_modified_time":"2026-02-04T07:40:45+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"13 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/","name":"Toru Watanabe -partner - Kitahama Partners","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-06-25T17:30:22+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-04T07:40:45+00:00","description":"As a partner, Toru Watanabe practices mainly in the area of corporate law. He provides corporate support, from both the offensive and defensive","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/professionals\/toru-watanabe\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Toru Watanabe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/","name":"Kitahama Partners","description":"Kitahama Partners strives to contribute to society and the public good by consistently providing the highest quality legal services.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/#organization","name":"Kitahama Partners","url":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/favicon.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/favicon.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Kitahama Partners"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/professional\/600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/professional"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/professional"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/professional\/600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6024,"href":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/professional\/600\/revisions\/6024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kitahama.or.jp\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}