Small claims action

A lawsuit in a summary court (簡易裁判所), heard and decided under rules of its own, on a claim to be paid money where the amount in dispute is 600,000 yen or less; the plaintiff asks for it when filing the action and declares how many times they have asked for one in that court that year, and no one may ask for one in the same summary court more times in a year than the Supreme Court's rules (最高裁判所規則) allow (Code of Civil Procedure, Article 368, paragraphs (1) to (3)). A false declaration of that number is punished with a civil fine (過料) of up to 100,000 yen (Article 381, paragraph (1)). No counterclaim (反訴), a claim the defendant brings against the plaintiff in the same suit (Article 146, paragraph (1)), may be filed (Article 369); unless there are special circumstances, the hearing must be completed on the first date for oral argument (口頭弁論), by or on which the parties must put forward all their allegations and evidence (Article 370); only evidence that can be examined at once may be taken (Article 371); and the judgment is, as a rule, given right after oral argument concludes (Article 374, paragraph (1)). The defendant may have the case moved to ordinary proceedings, until they have argued on the first date for oral argument or that date has ended (Article 373, paragraphs (1) and (2)), and the court must move it where, among other cases, the defendant can be summoned to that first date only by service by publication (公示送達) or the court finds a small claims action unsuitable (paragraph (3)). In upholding the claim, the court may, where the defendant's means or other circumstances make it especially necessary, set a time for payment or payment by instalments within three years of the judgment, and excuse the damages for delay since the action was filed if the defendant pays on those terms (Article 375, paragraph (1)), and it must of its own motion declare the judgment provisionally enforceable (仮執行の宣言) (Article 376, paragraph (1)), which makes it a judgment on which compulsory execution (強制執行) can be carried out (Civil Enforcement Act, Article 22, paragraph (1), item (ii)). There is no appeal to the court of second instance (控訴) (Article 377); instead a party may lodge an objection (異議) with the same court within two weeks of being served (送達) with the judgment (Article 378, paragraph (1)), after which the case goes back to where it stood before oral argument concluded and is heard in ordinary proceedings (Article 379, paragraph (1)), and the judgment then given cannot be appealed to the court of second instance either (Article 380, paragraph (1)).