【Report】A Friendship event with the Embassy of the Czech Republic was held on February 20th, 2024

On February 20th, 2024, a friendship event between the Tokyo Bar Association and the Embassy of the Czech Republic entitled "Legal, Business and Tourism Environment in the Czech Republic" was held at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Japan.

From left, 1st row from bottom: Ms. Akane Jaroš, Mr. Junichi Matsuda, the previous President, H. E. Mr. Martin Klučar, the Ambassador, Ms. Murasaki Yamashita, the previous Vice President, and Mr. Ondřej Svoboda, the economic diplomat, 2nd row: Ms. Sumire Tsutamune, Mr. Jakub Hájek, the Director, Mr. Štěpán Pavlík, the director and Ms. Satoko Aso, 3rd row: Mr. Keiichi Adachi, Attorney at law, Ms. Nagisa Takizawa, Attorney at law, Mr. Kei Miyoshi, Attorney at law, Mr. Takeshi Yamaguchi, Attorney at law, Mr. Jinnosuke Matsumoto, Attorney at law

The planning of this event initially started, in response to a proposal from Mr. Junichi Matsuda, the previous President of the Tokyo Bar Association that he would like to inform our Bar Association's members about the Czech legal system and the attractive environment in the Czech Republic for business and tourism, on the occasion of the courtesy visit on October 24, 2023, by previous President Matsuda, Ms. Murasaki Yamashita, the previous Vice President of the Tokyo Bar Association, and Mr. Kei Miyoshi, Vice Chair of the International Committee (also serving on the Grand Design PT) to H. E. Mr. Martin Klučar, the Ambassador of the Czech Republic.
After such a courtesy visit, Mr. Ondřej Svoboda, the economic diplomat and Ms. Akane Jaroš from the Embassy of the Czech Republic made great efforts to organize this event after coordinating the program with our Bar Association, and finally, this event could be held by close co-organization between the Embassy of the Czech Republic and the Tokyo Bar Association.

Quoted from the program distributed on the day of the event

１．Opening Speech, Greeting Message, 1st session and MC

The opening speech was made by H.E. Mr. Martin Klučar, Ambassador of the Czech Republic, who spoke of the excellent relationship between Japan and the Czech Republic, which shares the same values, introduced the content of today's presentation and expressed his expectations for the future relationship with our Bar Association.

H. E. Mr. Martin Klučar, the Ambassador of the Czech Republic

Afterwards, a greeting video message from Mr. Robert Němec, the President of the Czech Bar Association, thanking for the meeting with previous President Junichi Matsuda at the IBA (International Bar Association) 2023 Paris Congress and looking forward to a friendly relationship with our Bar Association, was aired.

Robert Němec, the President of the Czech Bar Association

The first session featured speakers from the Embassy of the Czech Republic, Mr. Ondřej Svoboda, Economic Diplomat, and Ms. Akane Jaroš, who gave a presentation on topics familiar to our members, including the Czech legal system in general (Civil law system similar to Japan), the court system (the second fastest court system in the EU for the entire duration of trial process), the bar association and the registered foreign attorney system (there is a certification test for registration as a foreign attorney), and other topics.

Upper row: Mr. Ondřej Svoboda, the economic diplomat, Lower left: Mr. Kei Miyoshi, the Attorney at law
Lower right: Ms. Akane Jaroš and Mr. Ondřej Svoboda, the economic diplomat

２．2nd session, 3rd session and closing remarks

In the 2nd session, Mr. Jakub Hájek, the Director the CzechInvest Office in Tokyo and Ms. Sumire Tsutamune also from the CzechInvest Office in Tokyo, gave a presentation on basic economic information about the Czech Republic, similarities between the Czech Republic and Japan as highly developed industrial countries, the situation of investments made by Japanese companies in the Czech Republic (Japan ranks second after Germany in terms of foreign investment), and the extensive subsidy system for foreign investors.

In the 3rd session, Mr. Štěpán Pavlík, the director of the Czech Tourism Office in Tokyo and Ms. Satoko Aso also from the Czech Tourism Office in Tokyo, gave a presentation about the wonderful tourism resources of the Czech Republic (There are 16 World Heritage sites in a land area of less than Hokkaido.), a country of music and art (which has produced artists such as Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana, and Alfons Mucha (*The pronunciation is "Muha" in Czech), etc.).

Upper left: Ms. Sumire Tsutamune, Upper right: Ms. Sumire Tsutamune and Mr. Jakub Hájek, the Director
Lower left: Mr. Štěpán Pavlík and the director and Ms. Satoko Aso, Lower right: Ms. Satoko Aso

The closing remarks were then given by Junichi Matsuda, the previous President of our Bar Association, who thanked speakers for their substantial presentations and expressed his aspirations for future relations with the Embassy of the Czech Republic and the Czech Republic.

Mr. Kei Miyoshi, the Vice-Chair of the International Committee, Attorney at law, who also planned and coordinated this event together with the Embassy staff, served for the whole evening as the MC.

Mr. Junichi Matsuda, the previous President of the Tokyo Bar Association

３．Networking and photo session

After the seminar, the participants moved to the Embassy's event hall, where a commemorative photo was taken and the networking started with a toast by the previous Vice President Yamashita, saying " Na zdraví " (toast in Czech). The exchange of commemorative gifts also took place.

The participants had a great time chatting and networking while tasting delicious Czech food prepared by the Embassy chef as well as enjoying Czech beer and wine.

Photo Session

Networking

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Networking

From left, Mr. Ondřej Svoboda, the economic diplomat, Mr. Junichi Matsuda, the previous President, Ms. Murasaki Yamashita, the previous Vice President, Mr. Kei Miyoshi, the Vice Chair of the international committee, Ms. Akane Jaroš

This friendship event was held in close cooperation between the International Committee of the Tokyo Bar Association and the Embassy of the Czech Republic, following a top-level meeting held last October to foster friendly relations between the Association and the Embassy of the Czech Republic.

The day of this event was a great success with a large number of participants, and as the original purpose of the seminar, it made a significant contribution to fostering the relationship between the Association and the Embassy of the Czech Republic.
The video of the seminar is available as a record of our friendship activities and to promote knowledge about the Czech Republic and opportunities to collaborate or visit the country. For those who were unable to attend, please click the following item (you will be redirected to the video) to watch the video.

Video 1 (From the opening MC to the video message)

Video 2 (From the 1st session to the closing MC)

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