The Trust in an Ageing Japan: Has commercialisation precluded the trust from reaching its welfare potential?

This article argues that recent reforms to Japan’s trust law regime have not fully exploited the potential of the trust in an ageing society. It argues that the commercial emphasis of the reforms has intangible ramifications for the concept of the trust in Japan that render the trust of questionable suitability for welfare oriented applications. The article also explores the potential of the courts to rescue the welfare role of the trust, in part by developing doctrine responsively to a given trust arrangement. It concludes that in an evolving social, political, and economic climate (including the Global Financial Crisis and its effect on the demand for financial products involving securitization), it is the role of the courts in developing doctrine that may bring balance to the competing demands placed upon the trust in an ageing society