Message from ASEAN Division Director │ Legal Service of Thailand

Our ASEAN Division offers legal/tax services for foreign corporate clients (mainly Japanese corporate clients) that directly invest or are contract manufacturers in ASEAN countries as well as local corporate clients.

Ever since China joined the WTO, China was popular among Japanese companies for investment. However, since 2012, the amount of investment in ASEAN countries has exceeded that of China. The population of ASEAN countries is roughly 660 million; that is about half of China's. This shows that Japanese companies have been making greater investments into ASEAN countries. There’s an estimate that the population of Japan will be less than 100 million by 2050, and this has drawn not only large but also small to medium Japanese companies’ interest in expanding their business overseas.

There are 4 reasons why ASEAN has caught their attention.

It has become appealing not just as a production base but also as a market.
Many ASEAN countries are pro-Japanese and the “country risk” is relatively low.
ASEAN countries have relatively big Japanese communities as there’s a long history that many Japanese manufacturing companies have expanded their business there. Therefore, the Japanese find it comfortable to live in these countries.
Many ASEAN countries are comparatively safe, which is reassuring for the Japanese who aren’t used to living outside Japan.

Thailand, especially, is referred to as “Detroit in Asia” and is ASEAN's 3rd-largest economy following Singapore and Malaysia. It’s centrally located geographically in the ASEAN area, thus many Japanese companies choose Thailand as a base and expand their business into another Southeast Asian country (Thailand +1 strategy). In addition, a lot of Japanese people have started their business in Thailand and it’s not uncommon for Japanese small to medium companies to have their headquarters in the country. Our ASEAN Division will strive to meet these clients’ needs.

Tsutomu Kawamura, the Representative Executive Officer of ALG Tax&Law,Thailand and the head of our Thai office, passed the previous bar exam in 1992 while he was studying at Waseda University. He has a unique background that he had travelled around Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia for a year after he graduated from university. Then he completed the 2-year legal training and worked as a lawyer in Japan. He’s been based in Bangkok,Thailand since 2007 and has spent most of his career dealing with legal and tax affairs in the country.

Therefore, I believe he's one of the most experienced Japanese lawyers in Thailand. Incidentally, he and I were fellow legal trainees and we have known each other since 1994. I trust his expertise and can guarantee our clients will not be disappointed by our service. We assure our clients we will take care of matters sincerely.

Hiroyuki KanezakiLawyer Representative Executive Officer of ALG&Associates LPC /ASEAN Division Director