December 12, 2011 - September 30, 2013

2011

It is now urgently necessary to protect legally the foreign direct investments (FDI) of Japanese companies. For this end, it is necessary, first, to promote the conclusion of international investment treaties, such as bilateral investment treaties (BITs), economic partnership agreements (EPAs), free trade agreements (FTAs), and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Second, it is also necessary to use the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clause establishing investment arbitration, such as the International Centre of Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), through which investors can bring their claims of investment damage against the host states. Investment protection is now a world-wide phenomenon, and as such, the "International Investment Law" is rapidly being created and diversified. This research project aims to examine the theoretical and factual aspects of contemporary pressing matters of investment protection and liberalization and to achieve some useful policy implications.