Mango said:
The problem is, he does not live in Japan at the moment so it is difficult for him to find a lawyer outside of Japan. Therefore, it is difficult for him to look for a lawyer in his hometown since he is not there. I don't even know where he got married. I wonder if he has to get divorced in the prefecture he got married. No, he does not need a translator since he is Japanese and speaks fluent Japanese.
I don't quite understand the situation. Where does your friend live ? In Europe ? if so, in which country ? Laws about divorce are different in every country, so to help you we need to know :
1) the nationality of your friend's spouse
2) the country where they got married
3) where they are both living now (country, and city if possible to recommend a lawyer)
I see your flag is from Austria. If your friend's spouse is Austrian, or they got married in Austria, you might want to contact
https://jref.com/forum/member.php?u=1, who is Austrian and a jurist. He may be able to help you more.
Anyhow, I don't think your friend will have to pay alimony to his (ex-)wife f she is working and has enough money. The opposite could happen if
she is working and not him. Europeans are much fairer and egalitarian in this regard than Japanese.
However, if she does not want to divorce, it will be difficult, except if he can prove that she cheated on him or something like that, but even so it's not sure. Getting divorce in Europe can sometimes take years, while in Japan it can be done in 1 day in easy cases.
In the case of international marriages, there are agreements between countries to regulate this. So it may not be so difficult as the husband is Japanese. But again, either a lawyer, or your friends embassy or the local town hall, will surely be able to inform you better.