In past years, 25-year-old law school graduate Hiroyuki Ichikawa would have been facing an almost impossible task -- a bar exam with a 97 percent failure rate.
Now, his chances are closer to 50-50.
In the most sweeping reform of the legal system since World War II, the doors are opening wide for a flood of new lawyers, prosecutors and judges to handle criminal and civil cases in an increasingly litigious society.