Overview
- Civil litigation in Japan became principally electronic on May 21, 2026, when the amended Civil Procedure Law went into full effect nationwide.
- The judiciary will route filings, evidence and judgment texts through the courts' dedicated mints electronic filing system, which stores documents as PDFs and lets parties view case materials online.
- Courts have already held hearings with lawyers appearing remotely using web-conference tools, as seen in a Sendai District Court session earlier in May that tested the new processes.
- Legal professionals say the change should speed case handling and reduce paperwork and staff workloads, while critics warn that reliance on digital systems could weaken access for people with poor internet or technical skills and accelerate court consolidations.
- Authorities plan further work to make judgment data publicly available in electronic form, a follow-up phase that could expand public access to court decisions but requires new technical and privacy safeguards.