"...This note examines some of the key legal and policy implications of the Myanmar–Japan Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). This treaty was signed on December 15, 2013 but, at the time of writing, does not appear to have entered into force. Although Myanmar is already a party to a handful of bilateral and multilateral investment treaties, the Myanmar–Japan BIT is particularly significant for two reasons. The first is that it is the first investment treaty to be negotiated and signed by the transitional government that took power in 2011. As such, it provides insights into how the current Government might approach other investment treaty negotiations over the coming years. The second reason is that the Myanmar–Japan BIT differs significantly from recent ASEAN investment treaty practice (to which Myanmar is a party). For one, the investment protection provisions of the Myanmar–Japan BIT use older- style language, thereby leaving leeway for investment tribunals to limit Myanmar?s policy space in a manner that would not be possible under the ASEAN investment treaties. Myanmar also appears to provide more extensive pre-establishment rights to Japan than it provides to ASEAN member states under the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ASEAN CIA), and it could be argued that the rights granted to Japanese investors must now also be extended to investors of the other nine ASEAN states..."