A There are four tiers of courts.

1) Summary courts (kan-i saibansho)

Summary Courts, in principle, handle civil cases involving small amounts, not in excess of ¥1,400,000, and minor criminal offenses. Summary Court cases are handled by one judge. Civil cases in the Summary Court can be appealed to the District Court.
For such cases, we recommend to retain lawyers to appear in court on your behalf since the civil procedures and rules applied there are almost the same as other litigation.

As for civil disputes relating to loans or other transactions with documentary evidence, the Petition for Demand for Payment (shiharai tokusoku) may be useful for obtaining an enforceable order by the court in Japan. Please contact us for the further information and our services regarding this Japanese legal system.

2) District Court

The district courts (chihou saibansho) sit at the second tier. These 50 district courts are the principal courts of the first instance. More than 80 percent of all litigated cases are heard at these courts first. The numbers of judges on the panel depends on how complicated the case is. The District Courts exclusively handle the first instances of felony cases and civil cases, as long at the disputed amount exceeds 1,400,000 Japanese yen. Normally, lawyers representing the plaintiff and the defendant are retained and they appear in the courtrooms on appointed court dates.

3) High Courts (Koto saiban-sho)

There are 8 high courts in Japan, each of which covers allocated areas over several prefectures. They are the principal courts of the second instance. The usual panel of a High Court consists of three judges.

The supreme court has limited function as illustrated in the next Q&A.