“Japan Said Ready to Impose Bitcoin Rules“, by Hiroko Tabuchi.
From the article:
Karl-Friedrich Lenz, a law professor at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, said that although the proposed guidelines would bring some welcome clarification, they could also leave Bitcoin trading to untested upstarts, with little additional protections for users.
“If banks and securities firms can’t handle Bitcoins, Japanese consumers will be stuck with illegal shadow banks like Mt. Gox, and their risk will be much higher as a result,” he said in a note.
Lenz Blog 