The e-mail was sent by a lawyer in the UK. There are two types of lawyers in the UK: barristers and solicitors. In Japan, the former is called a “Houtei” lawyer, and the latter is a “Jimu” lawyer. The difference between them is that a barrister argues in court, while a solicitor deals directly with clients. This e-mail was sent by a solicitor; the client’s name was Mary Evans.

The following is a summary of the e-mail.

Mary and Gordon Evans’ divorce is to be litigated in the UK Family Court. In the UK, there is no such thing as a divorce by consent, as in Japan, where a divorce can be obtained simply by filing a petition. In other words, there is no other way than a judicial divorce. During the Evans’ divorce proceedings, the division of property is being disputed.

The Evans ran a guesthouse for foreigners in Hida Takayama, Japan. Hida Takayama is a popular tourist destination for foreigners. Hot springs, ski resorts, and the world heritage site, Shirakawa-go, are all in the area. The Evans pooled their funds to purchase the land and building for the guesthouse. They managed it well and made a reasonable profit. However, they had some disagreements over management policies. Their marriage deteriorated, and Mary returned to the UK at the end of last year. Then, back in the UK, they filed for divorce.

The issue, in this case, is the settlement of a property. Property settlement is the process of dividing marital property during a divorce. In this case, the issue is how to divide the guest house, which Mary and Gordon had jointly purchased and managed. Mary has already returned to England, but Gordon is still running the guesthouse in Hida Takayama and wants to continue to run it in the future. Legally, the building is solely owned by Gordon, who paid for it. However, the land belonged to Mary and Gordon, each with a half interest, both putting down money for the land. Since Mary has rights to 50% of the land the building sits on, if Gordon wanted to continue operating the guesthouse, he would have to pay Mary for the 50% of the land she owns.

The lawyer’s decision to use the Kuroda Appraisal Office to determine the property’s value was a crucial step in the settlement process. The lawyer sought Kuroda’s services after discovering their English version of the website, a testament to Kuroda’s consistent efforts to improve his English skills.

Assuming that he would take the job, Kuroda immediately replied. Well, first, he had to write the e-mail in Japanese using simple sentences, auto-translate it to English, and then manually make it sound more natural. Kuroda could start writing it in English from scratch. But when he was writing long sentences, he wanted to make sure he got it right.

First, Kuroda needed to know what level of accuracy the client wanted. Were they sending the information and papers for the property? Did they want a rough appraisal using the information they provided? Or did they want Kuroda to go to the actual site to investigate and prepare a full, detailed report? Since it takes about 5 hours to get to Hida Takayama from Tokyo, he’d have to stay somewhere for the night if they expected him to go to the actual site. So he estimated the cost for both cases, one for a rough appraisal without the trip and one that included bills for the trip. Kuroda asked them for further details about this job.

“The traveling expenses between Tokyo and Hida Takayama aren’t cheap. They would be saving money if they contacted a real estate appraiser nearer to their guest house, such as Nagoya or Gifu,” Kuroda thought. But they chose Kuroda’s office in Tokyo. He felt that the Evans must have their own reasons for choosing his office out of all others.

The traveling time from Tokyo to Takayama City, Hida, was going to be long. It takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes from Tokyo to Nagoya on a bullet train, then 2 hours and 30 minutes from Nagoya to Toyama on the Hida Limited Express. When Kuroda arrived at Takayama station shortly after 11:00 am, he was met by Sayama, who works part-time at Gordon’s guesthouse. Mary’s lawyer had told him beforehand that Sayama would be picking him up at the train station.

“Is that you, Kuroda-sensei? I’ve been expecting you. The taxi pool is right this way.”

“Wait, could I eat something before we go?” Kuroda replied.

Sayama took Kuroda to a famous ramen restaurant. And while Kuroda ate the ramen noodles, he asked several questions.

“I heard your guesthouse isn’t far from the nearest bus stop. Am I correct?”

“Yeah, it’s very near. About 10 minutes or so.” Sayama replied.

“Instead of taking the cab, can we go by bus? I want to see what Takayama City is like.”

“Okay, sure.”

After finishing his lunch, Kuroda was directed to the bus stop. They shouldn’t have bothered sending someone to pick him up if he were to take a cab. But a local tour guide could come in handy when riding a bus. Plus, Kuroda was staying at a business hotel in Takayama City. So, if he took the bus on the way out, he’d have an easier time finding his way back into the city.

Sayama is a university student in Gifu Prefecture. He works part-time for Gordon’s guesthouse because he likes Hida Takayama and wants to learn English. He tells Kuroda that Gordon is a good-natured person. Since Gordon sent Sayama to pick Kuroda up at the station, Sayama’s impression of Gordon seems to be true. Someone who could be nice to the opposing party’s member during a divorce case can’t be that bad.

As Kuroda looked outside, he saw many buildings that retained the atmosphere of the Edo period. “You know what? At the end of that alley, there is a famous pudding shop,” Sayama told Kuroda as the bus passed through the city.

When Kuroda reached Gordon’s guesthouse, it was already 1:00 pm. Gordon greeted him, and the tour of the guesthouse began. The building was well-maintained and was being kept in excellent condition. Kuroda and Gordon’s conversation was a mixture of English and Japanese, but they understood each other well. After the building tour, Kuroda wanted to see the environment surrounding the property. So, Gordon again started to guide Kuroda. There were several inns and guesthouses. Gordon told him that the international tourist population in Hida Takayama has recently increased, and the guesthouse’s business has been doing well. “After all, Hida Takayama is a Michelin three-star tourist destination,” Kuroda said. Gordon replied in Japanese, “That’s right. Foreigners understand the value of Hida Takayama better than Japanese.” A saying crossed Kuroda’s mind, “It’s hard to see what is right under your nose.”

There was a vacant lot, and when Kuroda asked about it, Gordon told him that a foreigner was planning to build a vacation home there. The “For Sale” sign was carelessly tossed in the back of the vacant lot, indicating that it had been sold. Kuroda thought it was an interesting piece of information, and using his smartphone, snapped a picture of that discarded sign. When he later asked Gordon about the real estate company that sold that particular vacant lot, he was informed that it was the same company that sold the land Evans now owned. And “that company” is the one who submitted Gordon’s version of the appraisal to the family court in England. Even after Gordon left, Kuroda walked around the area until it became dark and talked to people nearby. When Kuroda returned to Gordon’s guesthouse at dusk, he found a woman cooking in the kitchen. She looked around thirty-ish and had long black hair. Gordon invited Kuroda to join the table. But since Kuroda has been forewarned by Mary’s lawyer, he politely declined the offer, thanked Gordon for his hospitality, and left the building.

After spending the night in a business hotel in Takayama, Kuroda took some time in the morning to stroll around the city. Gordon was right. There were lots of foreign tourists in the area. As a souvenir for his office staff, he bought the famous pudding Sayama suggested and returned to Tokyo. On the train, Kuroda continued working on the evaluation report. Time cannot be wasted.

Thank you for your assistance in Mary’s court case.

Best regards,’

Kuroda received a reply from the UK. The appraisal report should fulfill the client’s request. Case closed, Kuroda thought, and when he was about to send the invoice, he received an unexpected e-mail.

To his surprise, he received a request to testify online about real estate appraisals during the family court trial in the UK.

Kuroda previously had experience giving similar testimonies in a Japanese court. And “only” in Japanese courts. It is nerve-wracking to answer questions from an opposing lawyer and the judge. The same would be true in the courts of the UK. Yes, Kuroda had some confidence in his English conversation skills. But he wasn’t sure he’d make it through a trial solely using English. Most importantly, thanks to the time-zone differences, the trial would be held during his sleeping hours, in the middle of the night.

He checked his calendar. On the day of the trial, Kuroda was scheduled to meet some other clients in person, and the case was about a crucial inheritance. He had made plans to sell real estate properties at the clients’ request. And during the meeting, Kuroda had to explain all the details to the co-heirs. He wouldn’t be awake enough to explain anything if he attended the trial during the night. Kuroda replied that he had an important meeting scheduled the next day and could not testify on the day of the trial.

In whatever country the trial is held in, the best way to enhance the credibility of an appraisal is for the appraiser himself to testify in court and answer questions from both parties and the court. Nevertheless, the differences between real estate agents and real estate appraisers in Japan should be researchable in the UK. It is a lawyer’s job to gather trial materials and convince the judge. Kuroda secretly thought.

That evening, Kuroda met with a lawyer he knew to discuss another case. The discussion ended early, so they had time to exchange information on other matters. During the conversation, without giving names and details, Kuroda told the lawyer that he had been asked to testify about real estate appraisal in a family court in the UK. He also told the lawyer that he had declined the request.

Kuroda explained, “A real estate agent in Nagoya made an appraisal for the property. The client wants me to testify about the difference between the opposing party’s and my version of appraisal.”

“Is that so? I don’t know much about the British court system and the real estate transactions, but they seem to have different court procedures.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s why they’ve asked me to testify.”

“By the way, about six months ago, I heard that a real estate agent in Nagoya got caught for tax evasion.” The lawyer suddenly remembered about the incident and informed Kuroda.

In that instant, Kuroda also remembered something crucial. When Kuroda did his investigation at Takayama City, there was a vacant lot. Nearby laid the “For Sale” sign. And the discarded “For Sale” sign had a real estate agent’s name on it. When he took a picture of that “For Sale” sign, he didn’t realize what had actually interested him in the first place. But now, he knew why. He had seen that agent’s name before in the newspaper or on the Internet. Kuroda quickly searched through the picture files on his smartphone. Then, he turned his smartphone screen toward the lawyer.

“Oh yeah, that’s the one.” The lawyer also searched for something on his phone, opened a news media page, and showed it to Kuroda. It was news that the National Tax Bureau of Aichi and the Aichi District Public Prosecutor’s Office had filed a complaint against the company suspected of tax evasion. Yes, Kuroda had seen this web page before.

A few days later, Kuroda received another e-mail from the lawyer in the UK.

To his surprise, the lawyer asked Kuroda to have a debate with the real estate agent in Nagoya - the one who made the appraisal for Gordon. The lawyer stated that this time, Kuroda could schedule the date and time of the debate. And this was a court order.

The lawyer says that the real estate agent has been handling a lot of properties for foreigners. Therefore, they probably have foreign employees whose native language is English. Even if a Japanese person could speak fluently in English, they might have difficulty discussing against a native English speaker, so maybe the opposing side was trying to win some points over the debate. The lawyer asked if Kuroda could explain the authority a real estate appraiser has in Japan.

Kuroda took a moment to think the proposal over. The other party is probably aware of the validity of Kuroda’s appraisal. They might think that even if Kuroda could speak some English, he would be an ordinary Japanese man. If it came to debate, native speakers would have huge advantages against Kuroda. The other party may have asked the court for a debate based on such an assumption. The lawyer may be right. But the truth of setting a debate might have some deeper meaning. If the trial continued without such a debate, the court would have to study Japanese materials to learn about the Japanese real estate systems in detail. Maybe they want to avoid such effort and save themselves the trouble of accurately translating the Japanese text into English. Even the lawyer on Mary’s side might be thinking the same thing.

If the other party underestimated Kuroda’s English and asked for a debate, he wanted to take up the challenge. But protecting his self-confidence should not be a primary goal in business dealings. Kuroda rethought. Wanting to prove that he could speak English shouldn’t be the motive to challenge a native speaker in a debate. Be careful of what you wish for, Kuroda thought and declined to attend a debate. Taking the bait wouldn’t be a smart move.

But the lawyer works for Mary and is contacting Kuroda on her behalf. And Mary is Kuroda’s client. He shouldn’t just say “no” to everything. So, instead of simply telling them “NO,” he sent an English translation of the headline and summary of the article about the scandal of the real estate agent in Nagoya. And, of course, he also sent the URL of the article. The chance of winning a trial using an appraisal made by a tax-evading agent sounds very promising. The only way to counter Mary’s appraisal by Kuroda would be to prepare a new one. However, creating a trustworthy appraisal stating prices that are very low compared to Mary’s would be unrealistic. If that were the case, Kuroda thought the other party might not be willing to spend more on a losing battle. After seeing the article, if the opposing party or the court asked Kuroda again to participate in the debate, he’d be ready for it then.

The next day, Kuroda received a reply e-mail saying that it was regrettable that he could not participate in the debate but appreciated the valuable information.