Doing Business in Japan
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Knowledge base on doing business in Japan. Topics: visas and immigration (including the Business Manager visa 経営・管理 and the October 2025 reform), company registration (株式会社/合同会社/個人事業主), taxes, legal issues and cases, documents and procedures (banking, offices, accounting, hiring), useful links and contacts, and other business-relevant topics (culture and mentality, networking, marketing, real estate, lending, insurance).
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National Support Portals and Sector-Specific Grants
Nationwide support portals (J-Net21, SMRJ, smart-hojokin, JETRO) and sector-specific grant programs for startups.
J-Net21 is a well-translated government portal supporting small and medium businesses, and smart-hojokin.jp is a nationwide aggregator of subsidies and grants. SMRJ (the Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises) is the umbrella body behind much of this support, and its it-shien portal offers grants specifically for IT businesses. JETRO supports exporters and small businesses, is headquartered in Mori Tower, Akasaka, and is useful for business-plan consultations, obtaining supporting opinions for visa applications, and networking at its events. Several sector-specific and gap-fund programs supplement these general portals: GTIE's gap-fund offers startup financing, OIST Innovation runs a 9-month grant/fellowship program for tech startups, healthcare-innohub.go.jp supports health-tech startups, VIPO offers a location/program for creative and media projects, and leansecurity.co provides cybersecurity consulting guidance with free or discounted seminars for startups. Similar regional entrepreneurship-support programs exist in nearly every prefecture and district beyond Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka and Sapporo; the recommended way to find one for a specific area is to search for the prefecture or ward name plus "起業支援" (entrepreneurship support). Source: https://j-net21.smrj.go.jp — J-Net21 — government portal supporting small and medium businesses. Source: https://www.smart-hojokin.jp/ — smart-hojokin.jp — nationwide aggregator of business subsidies and grants. Source: https://www.smrj.go.jp/english/index.html — SMRJ — Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises. Source: https://it-shien.smrj.go.jp/ — it-shien — grants specifically for IT businesses. Source: https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/jgc/reports/2022/98e899640bae5d8b.html — JETRO reports on business support. Source: https://gtie.jp/en/gap-fund/ — GTIE gap-fund — startup financing program. Source: https://groups.oist.jp/innovation — OIST Innovation — 9-month grant/fellowship for tech startups. Source: https://healthcare-innohub.go.jp/7106/ — resource on health-tech startup support. Source: https://www.vipo.or.jp/en/location-project/ — VIPO — location/program for creative and media projects. Source: https://leansecurity.co — cybersecurity consulting guide for startups with free/discounted seminars.