26th Asia-Pacific Regional Round of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition 2024 Concluded

24 June 2024 -- The Asia-Pacific Regional Round happened at Gakushuin University, Tokyo, Japan two years in a row and concluded its 2024 round on 9th June 2024. The Regional Round was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Space Policy Secretariat of the Cabinet Office, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and was sponsored by Anderson Mori & Tomotsune、TMI Associates, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, Mitsubishi Corporation, Nishimura & Asahi, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, Astroscale, and Deloitte Tohmatsu Space and Security. It attracted 30 teams from India, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia which participated in its memorial round. Sixteen teams were selected to compete in the oral rounds. Teams competed in the oral round for three preliminary rounds, as well as quarter-final, semi-final, and final rounds. Significantly, the Regional Round retained its first ever participation from the Middle East, Prince Sultan University, which was awarded the Spirit of Lachs award, a special award of the Region for a nascent team who overcame significant challenges in order to participate in the Competition. The Regional Final was judged by the honorable Ambassador Kimitake NAKAMURA (Japan), Prof. Steven FREELAND (Australia), and Prof. Kai-Uwe SCHROGL (France). The Winner of the Regional Round was Singapore Management University (Singapore) who is now the representative of the Region for the World Final in Milan.

Yu TAKEUCHI, the 2024 Regional Organizer for Asia-Pacific, on behalf of the organizing committee, appreciates the three Final Judges, 19 judges who generously served as Oral Judges on site and 43 Memorial Judges who evaluated the memorial round from around the world. In addition, appreciation goes to all of the supporters, sponsors, staff members and participants who tremendously, untiringly, and enthusiastically engaged and supported the organization of the Regional Round. The Regional Round of 2025 will be organized in Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar, India and the baton of the Regional Organizer will be relayed to Prof. Divya TYAGI of that University.

Lastly, the Regional Organizer would like to take this opportunity to introduce the Local Organizing Committee members, especially in recognition of the young generation, who heavily contributed to the organization.

Chief Director: Prof. Souichirou KOZUKA (Japan)

General Advisor: Prof. Setsuko AOKI (Japan)

External Relations: Prof. Masahiko SATO (Japan)

Associate Regional Organizer: Mr. Gopalakrishnan V. (India)

Assistant Regional Organizer: Ms. Yui NAKAMA (Japan)

Assistant Regional Organizer: Mr. Shunshi DEGUCHI (Japan)

Memorials Coordinator: Mr. Bryant Mishima-BAKER (USA)

Chief Clerk: Ms. Reiko KAWAI (Japan)