Japanese law firm Mori Hamada & Matsumoto is to open two new offices in Yangon, Myanmar, and Osaka, Japan.

The Tokyo headquartered outfit will be the second Japanese firm to open in the two cities, with rival Nishimura & Asahi also launching in the former Burmese capital and largest city in May last year, and in Osaka in 2012.

One of Japan's 'big four' law firms, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto currently has two offices in Japan located in Tokyo and Fukuoka, and international bases in Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing and a support desk in Bangkok.

It opened its first international office in the Chinese capital in 1998, followed by Shanghai in 2005, Singapore in 2012 and the Bangkok desk in 2013.

The firm said its decision to open in Myanmar had been driven by an increase in demand for legal support from Japanese lawyers in the country, stemming from the rapid expansion of Japanese companies there.

The Yangon office will be primarily staffed by finance and corporate partner Takeshi Mukawa, who is the firm's co-representative partner in Singapore with significant experience in Myanmar-related matters, as well as a number of other attorneys.

The aim is to open in the spring of 2014 pending approval from the necessary regulators and government agencies, with the office also receiving support from lawyers in Tokyo, Singapore and Bangkok.

In Osaka, one of Japan's largest cities and the commercial hub of the country's western region, the firm wants to provide services tailored to its existing clients located in western Japan, and to address their needs from within the region.

The new office will focus on domestic and cross border deals, and on practices such as M&A, corporate, finance, intellectual property and disputes.

Scheduled to open on April 1, 2014, it will initially be staffed by three of the firm's lawyers, partner Takuya Eguchi and associates Hirokazu Hayashi and Takamasa Sato. It will also receive support from the firm's other offices.