Hideo Norikoshi was 10 years into his diplomatic career when a partner at a British law firm offered him a chance to throw it all away and study law in England.
Norikoshi, now a partner at the Tokyo office of English law firm Linklaters, said the decision came easily to him one night while he was lying in bed. "I wanted to be different from everyone else," he explained.
The 45-year-old barrister is a rare Japanese national registered here as a "gaiben" -- a lawyer specializing in foreign law. Most gaiben are non-Japanese, well-versed in business law, and work at foreign-based law firms in Japan to support companies from abroad.