After graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo in 1982, Of Counsel Obuchi completed the Legal Training and Research Institute course of the Supreme Court of Japan (36th term) and was appointed as an assistant judge to the Tokyo District Court. He was then dispatched to Harvard Law School as a long-term overseas research fellow of the National Personnel Authority by the Supreme Court of Japan (LL.M. and S.J.D.); served as First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations in Geneva; acted as Counselor and Director of Second Division at the Administrative Bureau of the General Secretariat of the Supreme Court of Japan; and served as a judge at the Tokyo High Court. Subsequently, he became a professor at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, and in 2003, became a professor at the Graduate School for Law and Politics, Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo, where he was involved in research and teaching on the subject of intellectual property law, until March of 2025. During this time, he also served as a visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law in Germany. Additionally, he has held various other significant advisory positions in Japan, including as the Chairman of the Intellectual Property Subcommittee of the Industrial Structure Council; Chairman of the Patent System Subcommittee; and Vice Chairman of the Copyright Subcommittee of the Cultural Affairs. In 2005, he was awarded a Doctorate in Law (Ph.D.) from the University of Tokyo.