Written by Goro Koyama

Japan PI >> Articles by: Written by Goro Koyama
Goro Koyama is CEO & Founder of Japan PI Inc., a bilingual private investigations firm with headquarters in Tokyo. Goro has 30 years experience serving domestic and overseas companies and individuals in Japan. He is a member of the Council for International Investigations (CII), World Association of Detectives (WAD), and the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ). He has been featured in the Japan Times & Beacon Reports.
Shadowing

What if surveillance doesn’t work well?

We are always keeping in mind that the most important goal is discretion in the matter of surveillance. Surveillance requires numerous tactics which we have mastered with experience. Our associates are hand-picked to match the best-suited investigator with the proper surveillance. We always pay attention to the nature of the case and the venues the subject is likely to visit and adjust our attires so that we blend in the atmosphere.

Process Service

What is surveillance?

Surveillance is the best method used to verify if spouses are cheating on each other. It can involve husbands, wives, boyfriends or girlfriends. Also referred to as “tailing someone” it is the technique of putting an investigator out in the field who follows the suspected cheater to document their activities without their knowledge. This is accomplished by recording their activities on videotape. The number of investigators used depends on a

Search-files

How We Find Missing Persons in Japan

Our Services Finding missing persons in Japan can be a difficult endeavor if one is not equipped with the right tools. Our role as a private investigation firm is to work with our clients to provide the safest and most effective services to locate the subject(s) in question. Mission Statement: Our mission is to secure the safety and confidentiality of our clients. We do our utmost to carry out investigatory

Contact form

Privacy Laws and Background Checks

Please advise cost and timeframe of results (turnaround time) to conduct employee background checks in Japan. We are interested in the following items: 1.Criminal records 2.Driving records (if available) 3.Medical records (if available) 4.Education (highest degree awarded) 5.Employment (2 prior employers) What information do you need from us, besides the person’s full name and a signed release form? The investigative situation in Japan Criminal records are basically unavailable in Japan.

Child custody case

Japan to join Hague Convention

We have been constantly getting a large number of consultations from overseas clients whose children were abducted to Japan by their Japanese spouses without the settlement of custody or visitation right. Arguments over whether Japan would join Hague Convention or not have been repeated for the past 10 years or so, but Japan have always put off the ratification until now. We were concerned about how other countries saw us.

Alian Registration Card

Changes to alien registry system

Japan’s alien registration act will abolish next year. After that, I assume we will be able to check foreign residents easier than now. Now under the different registration, alien (foreign) residents in Japan are almost invisible without name in Japanese language and address information. You register your name in Japanese language based on what you wanted be called in Japan. Therefore, there should normally be three or four combinations in

Due Diligence

Background Check Sources In Japan

Due to the strict privacy laws and the government policy, not only PIs but also the general public are not allowed to get access to government data or utility company data in Japan. We are not allowed to get access to some of the information which is commonly disclosed to society in many countries. Therefore, we often need to employ some alternative method to get a similar result. But those

Data leak incidents related to PIs

In November 2011, five people including a PI along with lawyers got arrested for obtaining residential/Family records without the purposeof litigation. This happened because they worked for the Japanesebiggest anti-social syndicate and were asked to search the householdof the police investigators who are in charge of the syndicate. In 2004, there was a huge political scandal with regards to the respective number of politicians failing to make mandatory social pension

Report reading

Administrative scrivener arrested for data leak to PIs

In Japan eight professional occupations such as lawyers, judicial scriveners, notary public, etc. are granted to procure residential (Juminhyo) records and family (Koseki) records as their duty claim. No third parties except above eight occupations or the related person (such as a creditor, or legal hair, etc) are allowed to obtain the records. Former lawyers, arrested for fraudulent procurement of family registration (Koseki) records (November 14, 2011) Aichi prefectural police

2011 HK WAD Seminar

Speakers Mr. Kevin J. Ripa, EnCE, CDRP, CEH Computer Evidence Recovery, Inc Kevin J. Ripa, owner of Computer Evidence Recovery, Inc, and Past President of the Alberta Association of Private Investigators, is a former member, in various capacities, of the Department of National Defence serving in both foreign and domestic postings. Mr. Ripa left the service of the Federal Government in 1991 but continued to serve on an “as called”

Search

General backgrounds of Japanese private investigation

Investigative situations in Japan There are huge cultural differences in circumstances of private investigation industry between Japan and Western countries. Almost all the government registry records are not open to the public, except for real estate registry records and company registry records. And the Act on protection of personal information enacted in 2005 which had been pressured to install by EU countries is causing greater counter reactions to privacy matters

The Act of regulation on private investigation

UNSCRUPULOUS GUMSHOES TARGETED LDP moving to clamp down on private eyes The Japan Times: March 20, 2005 People in general may have a positive image of private detectives. After all, they’re often the heroes of TV dramas, righting wrongs and helping the disadvantaged. But the work of private eyes in Japan is usually not romantic at all — and many of the detectives are not necessarily good guys. Indeed, an

Shadowing

What if surveillance doesn’t work well?

We are always keeping in mind that the most important goal is discretion in the matter of surveillance. Surveillance requires numerous tactics which we have mastered with experience. Our associates are hand-picked to match the best-suited investigator with the proper surveillance. We always pay attention to the nature of the case and the venues the subject is likely to visit and adjust our attires so that we blend in the atmosphere.

Process Service

What is surveillance?

Surveillance is the best method used to verify if spouses are cheating on each other. It can involve husbands, wives, boyfriends or girlfriends. Also referred to as “tailing someone” it is the technique of putting an investigator out in the field who follows the suspected cheater to document their activities without their knowledge. This is accomplished by recording their activities on videotape. The number of investigators used depends on a

Search-files

How We Find Missing Persons in Japan

Our Services Finding missing persons in Japan can be a difficult endeavor if one is not equipped with the right tools. Our role as a private investigation firm is to work with our clients to provide the safest and most effective services to locate the subject(s) in question. Mission Statement: Our mission is to secure the safety and confidentiality of our clients. We do our utmost to carry out investigatory

Contact form

Privacy Laws and Background Checks

Please advise cost and timeframe of results (turnaround time) to conduct employee background checks in Japan. We are interested in the following items: 1.Criminal records 2.Driving records (if available) 3.Medical records (if available) 4.Education (highest degree awarded) 5.Employment (2 prior employers) What information do you need from us, besides the person’s full name and a signed release form? The investigative situation in Japan Criminal records are basically unavailable in Japan.

Child custody case

Japan to join Hague Convention

We have been constantly getting a large number of consultations from overseas clients whose children were abducted to Japan by their Japanese spouses without the settlement of custody or visitation right. Arguments over whether Japan would join Hague Convention or not have been repeated for the past 10 years or so, but Japan have always put off the ratification until now. We were concerned about how other countries saw us.

Alian Registration Card

Changes to alien registry system

Japan’s alien registration act will abolish next year. After that, I assume we will be able to check foreign residents easier than now. Now under the different registration, alien (foreign) residents in Japan are almost invisible without name in Japanese language and address information. You register your name in Japanese language based on what you wanted be called in Japan. Therefore, there should normally be three or four combinations in

Due Diligence

Background Check Sources In Japan

Due to the strict privacy laws and the government policy, not only PIs but also the general public are not allowed to get access to government data or utility company data in Japan. We are not allowed to get access to some of the information which is commonly disclosed to society in many countries. Therefore, we often need to employ some alternative method to get a similar result. But those

Data leak incidents related to PIs

In November 2011, five people including a PI along with lawyers got arrested for obtaining residential/Family records without the purposeof litigation. This happened because they worked for the Japanesebiggest anti-social syndicate and were asked to search the householdof the police investigators who are in charge of the syndicate. In 2004, there was a huge political scandal with regards to the respective number of politicians failing to make mandatory social pension

Report reading

Administrative scrivener arrested for data leak to PIs

In Japan eight professional occupations such as lawyers, judicial scriveners, notary public, etc. are granted to procure residential (Juminhyo) records and family (Koseki) records as their duty claim. No third parties except above eight occupations or the related person (such as a creditor, or legal hair, etc) are allowed to obtain the records. Former lawyers, arrested for fraudulent procurement of family registration (Koseki) records (November 14, 2011) Aichi prefectural police

2011 HK WAD Seminar

Speakers Mr. Kevin J. Ripa, EnCE, CDRP, CEH Computer Evidence Recovery, Inc Kevin J. Ripa, owner of Computer Evidence Recovery, Inc, and Past President of the Alberta Association of Private Investigators, is a former member, in various capacities, of the Department of National Defence serving in both foreign and domestic postings. Mr. Ripa left the service of the Federal Government in 1991 but continued to serve on an “as called”

Search

General backgrounds of Japanese private investigation

Investigative situations in Japan There are huge cultural differences in circumstances of private investigation industry between Japan and Western countries. Almost all the government registry records are not open to the public, except for real estate registry records and company registry records. And the Act on protection of personal information enacted in 2005 which had been pressured to install by EU countries is causing greater counter reactions to privacy matters

The Act of regulation on private investigation

UNSCRUPULOUS GUMSHOES TARGETED LDP moving to clamp down on private eyes The Japan Times: March 20, 2005 People in general may have a positive image of private detectives. After all, they’re often the heroes of TV dramas, righting wrongs and helping the disadvantaged. But the work of private eyes in Japan is usually not romantic at all — and many of the detectives are not necessarily good guys. Indeed, an

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