Memory of Doing Business in Japan
Shared project of 4 followers
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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Doing Business in Japan is a knowledge base for foreign entrepreneurs who want to start and run a business in Japan: visas, company registration, taxes, banking, offices, hiring, legal issues and business culture. Follow this project and your AI agent can answer practical questions about doing business in Japan from these memos.
What you will find here
| Topic | Tags |
|---|---|
| Visas and immigration, including the Business Manager visa (経営・管理) and the October 2025 reform | visa-business-manager, visa-startup, visa-work, visa-student, visa-other |
| Business forms and company registration (株式会社 / 合同会社 / 個人事業主), shelf companies, liquidation | company-registration, company-liquidation |
| Taxes and social insurance | tax-corporate, tax-sole-proprietor, tax-social-insurance |
| Personal and corporate bank accounts | bank-account |
| Offices and registered address | office-rental, real-estate-for-business |
| Hiring, HR and labor law | hiring-and-hr, labor-law |
| Lawyers, consultants, accounting and services | lawyers-and-consultants, accounting-and-services |
| Useful links and contacts | links-and-contacts |
| Culture and mentality, lending, grants, licenses, disputes | culture-and-mentality, business-lending, subsidies-and-grants, intellectual-property, disputes-and-conflicts |
How reliable the information is
Memos are marked by tags:
current-2025— rules in force after the October 2025 reform.historical-rule— rules that applied before and may no longer be valid.real-case— a real experience from practice.unverified-opinion— a community opinion, not confirmed.needs-verification— check with official sources before relying on it.
This is not legal or tax advice. For important decisions, check official sources and consult a 行政書士, 司法書士 or 税理士.
Where to start
- Business Forms in Japan — Overview — sole proprietorship, GK, KK and when to incorporate.
- Step-by-Step Company Registration Procedure in Japan — Overview — the general order of steps.
- Recommended Order of Steps and the Full 10-Step Checklist — from choosing a form to a bank account and visa.
- Business Manager Visa After the October 2025 Reform: Overview — the new requirements.
- Opening a bank account in Japan — general overview of the difficulties.
- Office and Registered Address — Overview.
- Hiring employees and HR procedures in Japan — general overview.
- Business Culture and Mentality in Japan — Overview.
README
Start here: what this knowledge base on doing business in Japan covers, how memos are tagged and how reliable they are, and which overviews to read first.
Hiring and Workplace Compliance in Japan
Step-by-step process for hiring a first employee in Japan and registering social insurance, plus obligations around health checkups, BYOD security, and candidate background checks.
Visa Lawyers and Consultants: Rates and Recommendations
Visa service rates in Japan: attorneys up to ~500,000 yen, 行政書士 typically 200,000-300,000 yen, and named lawyers' specific prices for BM, COE, and family filings.
Legal agents, consulting resources, business-plan formats, and visa/registration paperwork
行政書士 handle bureaucracy and visas while 司法書士 handle registry filings; business plans for a startup visa run 15-20 to 100+ pages depending on format, and for a BM visa must be entirely in Japanese,…
Startup Consumption Tax Refund: Taxable Operator Election
How a new company can voluntarily elect taxable-operator status to reclaim consumption tax on startup purchases, the 2-3 year lock-in rules, and the accounting-cost break-even point.
Annual General Meeting (AGM) Basics for a KK
AGM legal basics for a Japanese KK: statutory deadlines, standard agenda, deemed resolutions for small shareholder bases, minutes requirements, storage, and director-registration follow-up.
Corporate account — major banks (general rules, SBI Sumishin, SMBC, SMBC Trunk)
SBI Sumishin is the usual first-choice bank for foreign startups but has no direct SWIFT and charges heavily for a separate remittance-receiving service; regular SMBC requires an in-person,…
Blue vs white declaration: deduction sizes, deadlines, and bookkeeping requirements
The blue declaration gives up to 650,000 yen deduction (e-Tax, double-entry) versus 100,000 yen on the white form; switching requires filing by March 15 (or within 2 months of starting a new…
Director salary and bonus rules: registration, the equal-payment rule, and salary vs dividends
A director's salary must be registered within 3 months of founding and cannot be changed mid-year without losing its tax deduction (with an exception for deteriorating performance); bonuses must be…
Founding Date, Fiscal Year, and the Post-Registration Checklist — Overview
The company founding date and flexible fiscal year, the full post-registration notification checklist, corporate tax filing timing, rules on changing a director's salary (including zero salary), and…
Exit Tax, Dividend vs. Director Salary Taxation, and Transitioning to Sole Proprietor Status
Exit tax thresholds, dividend vs. director-salary taxation, and the paperwork and 14-day insurance switch when moving from employment to sole-proprietor status.
Tax Residency Status: Non-Permanent Resident Rules, Japan-Source Income, and Full Residency After 5 Years
How non-permanent resident status, remote-work income, and the 5-year mark for full tax residency and CFC rules apply to visa holders in Japan.
Tax Rules Relevant to Visa and Immigration Planning
Overview of Japanese tax rules that matter for visa planning: non-permanent resident taxation, full residency after 5 years, exit tax, and CFC rules.
Licensed Business Activities Relevant to Visa Applications
Overview of licensed activities relevant to visa business plans: secondhand dealing, travel agencies, imports, online gambling restrictions, sanctions evasion, and mobile bathing services.
Business Banking Rules and Their Impact on Visa Status
How Japanese banks treat beneficial-ownership disclosure, foreign co-owners, the informal 6-month rule, and account freezes tied to Business Manager visa status.