About EHS

Eibun-Horei-Sha, Inc. was established on July 21, 1956 by Fukio NAKANE who was the first dean of the School of Law of the Asia University, Tokyo. NAKANE got B.A. in Economics in 1923 and B.A. in Law in 1925 at the Tokyo Imperial University.Under the occupation of the GHQ after the World War II, the Official Gazette of Japan was published in both English and Japanese by the order of the U.S. and all Japanese Laws and other regulations that were newly promulgated and amended were translated into English under the responsibility of the Japanese Government. The first job of NAKANE after his coming back from the North east of China was the translation of the above Laws and Ordinances. In April 1952, the Peace Treaty between U.S. and Japan came into force and Japan became independent, the Japanese Government abolished those English promulgations, so only Japanese was used for the promulgations as before the WW II. However, English translations of Japanese Laws are expected by not only the most entities related to the U.S. but also business world so that, at the suggestion of Tokujiro KANAMORI, the Chief Director of the National Diet Library, Prof. NAKANE founded EHS with the support of Kozo OTA, the president of the Asia University, Shigeharu MATSUMOTO, the Chief Director of the International Culture Center, many foreign Lawyers, the Ford Foundation and the related Ministries.

Kozo OTA assumed his position as the First Director of EHS, and also Toshiyoshi MIYAZAWA, Atsunosuke KOIKE, Tamotsu HASHIMOTO and Fukio NAKANE assumed their positions as Directors. Koji NATORI and Kyozo YUASA assumed as Auditors, and Ryukichi AMEMIYA, Sotaro OGONUKI, Masatoshi YOKOTA, Yukichi SUGIHARA, and Kazuo TAJIRI assumed as trustees. Since then, it was very hard work to translate newly promulgated and amended laws, Cabinet Orders and Ministerial Ordinances in order to keep those regulations updated by checking the Official Gazette everyday.

The translations have been called as “EHS LAW BULLETIN SERIES”. It is the most comprehensive collection of English translations of Japanese Laws now. As of May 2008, it includes some 330 current translations of Japanese laws into English. It is not advertised as a source of official translations of Japanese laws, but for more than 50 years EHS LAW BULLETIN SERIES has been the only readily available English translation. The most recent version of EHS LAW BULLETIN SERIES is published in 13 binders, with a total of 8 volumes (some of the volumes are in two or three parts). The binders contain pamphlet, each of which holds a law or in some cases two or more laws. When the laws are updated, the entire pamphlet is replaced. Each pamphlet can be purchased separately.

The translated Japanese laws are sold to universities, libraries, companies, corporations, embassies and law firms around the world, and EHS brand is widespread year by year. Since Japanese economy is developing as superpower and taking important roles in the international society, the needs of Japanese Laws are increasing. We recognized that our roles are important and our books are expected to be correct and sophisticated, and also we understand that our responsibilities are heavy.