1. What are the key corporate governance issues raised in the Japan Land case? What are the major underlying causes of these issues?

2. Explain the key potential conflicts of interest highlighted in the case and explain why they undermine corporate governance in the company.

3. There were a succession of resignations from the company. To what extent did these resignations indicate systemic corporate governance issues within the company?

4. Do you think the independent director should have resigned? Under what circumstances should a director resign and how should he communicates this decision?

5. Do you think the company and the external auditors acted appropriately when the external auditors resigned just three days after accepting re-appointment?

6. In your opinion, were the financial woes faced by the company caused by its corporate governance problems?

7. Recently, there was a major scandal involving Olympus, a large Japanese listed company. Do you believe that there are certain cultural or business norms involving Japanese companies which may pose systemic corporate governance issues in Japanese companies?