Japan's recent changes in its system of legal aid services were undertaken from the perspective of providing a framework for legal aid needs in the 21st century. These changes are considered a model for other countries in Asia, including the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Mr Chito Gascon, executive director of LIBERTAS in the Philippines, studied these changes in Japan's legal aid system with the support of an Asian Public Intellectuals Fellowship (APIF), a program offered by the Japan Foundation. Gascon's organization is a network of lawyers working on human rights issues and law reform. He presented his findings about Japan's law reforms at a recent seminar at The Nippon Foundation.

Gascon researched the implementation of the comprehensive legal support plan by the Japan Legal Support Center, and compiled the following facts: The Comprehensive Legal Support Law was approved at the 2004 Ordinary Diet Session. The Law provided for the Comprehensive Legal Support Plan, which is designed to provide all citizens in Japan with necessary information and services for legal solutions of disputes, both on civil and on criminal affairs, so that the justice system could be utilized more easily by citizens.
The Japan Legal Support Center, newly established under the Ministry of Justice as an independent administrative agency, is responsible for management of the Plan. The Japan Legal Support Center, with the purpose of promptly and properly implementing operations related to comprehensive legal support, was established in April 2006, and commenced operations in October of the same year. An outline of the work of the Japan Legal Support Center according to legal requirements is as follows.