Doing business in Japan.
I moved to Tokyo, set up here, and worked out the paperwork the slow way. These are the guides I wish had existed: what the visas actually require, where you file, and what the 2025 rule changes mean if you were counting on the old numbers.
Bringing Your Family to Japan on a Dependent Visa
Who counts as a dependent, what your family can and cannot do here, the income expectation nobody publishes, and the working hours limit that catches spouses out.
August 11, 2026 · 956 words · visas · moving to japan
Gyoseishoshi, Zeirishi, Shihoshoshi: Which One Do You Actually Need
Japan splits professional work across licences that do not exist in most countries. Who handles visas, who handles company registration, who handles tax, and what it costs to get the choice wrong.
August 11, 2026 · 858 words · company setup · working with advisers
Hiring Your First Employee in Japan
What changes the moment you hire someone here: the insurance enrolments, the contract rules, the cost above salary, and how hard it is to reverse the decision.
August 11, 2026 · 903 words · hiring · company setup
How to Close a Company in Japan
Dissolution and liquidation take months and cost real money, and doing nothing is worse. What the process involves, what it costs, and what happens to your visa.
August 11, 2026 · 961 words · company setup · running a business
Opening a Business Bank Account in Japan
The hardest step in setting up a company here is not the paperwork, it is the bank. What they actually assess, why applications get declined, and how to make yours easy to approve.
August 11, 2026 · 822 words · company setup · banking
Selling to Japanese Companies
Why the first meeting is not a sales meeting, who actually decides, what the silence means, and how a deal really moves inside a Japanese organisation.
August 11, 2026 · 913 words · doing business in japan · sales
Signing an Office Lease in Japan
Key money, deposits, guarantor companies, restoration clauses, and the upfront cost nobody quotes you. What a Japanese commercial lease actually asks for.
August 11, 2026 · 897 words · company setup · offices
The Japanese Company Filing Year
What a company here actually has to file and when: the fiscal year close, the corporate tax return, withholding, year end adjustment, and the fixed taxes you pay even at a loss.
August 11, 2026 · 932 words · tax · running a business
The Japanese Invoice System, Explained for Small Businesses
Since October 2023 your business customers need a qualified invoice to claim their consumption tax credit. What that means if you are small, new, or foreign owned, and why most people register even when they do not have to.
August 11, 2026 · 800 words · tax · running a business
Your First Two Weeks in Japan
Residence card, address registration, health insurance, pension, bank account, phone. The order matters, because half of these require one of the others first.
August 11, 2026 · 982 words · moving to japan
The Business Manager Visa After the 2025 Rules Change
Japan raised the Business Manager visa capital requirement from 5 million yen to 30 million, and added staff, experience and language conditions. Here is what actually changed and who it breaks.
August 8, 2026 · 857 words · visas · business manager · company setup
Which Japan Visa Should You Actually Apply For
Most people pick the wrong Japanese visa first and lose months. A plain map of the main statuses of residence, who each one is really for, and how to tell which one fits you.
August 7, 2026 · 853 words · visas · moving to japan
The Certificate of Eligibility, and Why Everyone Gets the Order Wrong
The COE is the step that actually decides whether you get into Japan, and it happens inside Japan before you ever visit an embassy. Here is the real sequence and where the months go.
August 6, 2026 · 765 words · visas · moving to japan · paperwork
The Startup Visa, and Why It Matters More After 2025
Japan's startup visa gives you a preparation period to build a business before facing the full Business Manager requirements. Since those requirements jumped in 2025, this route went from convenient to essential.
August 5, 2026 · 683 words · visas · business manager · company setup · startups
Where You Actually Apply, and What to Do in Your First Two Weeks
Which office handles what, why the ward office matters more than immigration once you land, and the fourteen-day clock that gates your bank account, your phone and your health insurance.
August 4, 2026 · 736 words · paperwork · moving to japan · visas
KK or GK: Which Japanese Company Should You Actually Register
Kabushiki Kaisha or Godo Kaisha. The real differences in cost, credibility and control, and why the cheaper one is right more often than foreigners are told.
August 3, 2026 · 652 words · company setup · business manager
The Highly Skilled Professional Visa Is Better Than You Think
A points system most people never check, that gets you a five-year stay, permanent residency in as little as one year, and a spouse who can work. Plus J-Skip and J-Find, the newer fast lanes.
August 2, 2026 · 685 words · visas · moving to japan
Permanent Residency in Japan, and the Mistakes That Reset the Clock
Ten years, or three, or one. What permanent residency actually requires, why unpaid pension contributions sink more applications than anything else, and how PR differs from citizenship.
August 1, 2026 · 693 words · visas · moving to japan
Tax and Social Insurance When You Run a Company in Japan
The costs that arrive after incorporation and surprise people: corporate tax even in a loss year, employer social insurance at roughly fifteen percent, and the consumption tax threshold that catches new companies.
July 31, 2026 · 781 words · company setup · business manager · tax
The Office Requirement Is Stricter Than You Think
A virtual office will not satisfy immigration, a co-working desk usually will not either, and renting a flat and calling it an office often fails. What actually counts as an office for the Business Manager visa.
July 30, 2026 · 766 words · business manager · company setup · visas
Renewals, Job Changes, and the Rules People Break Without Noticing
Leaving a job does not cancel your visa, but there is a fourteen-day notification and a three-month rule that quietly ends it. What to do when your work or your company changes.
July 29, 2026 · 751 words · visas · paperwork
What Nobody Tells You About Actually Moving a Business to Japan
The paperwork is documented. The rest is not: the bank account that takes six months, the seal culture, the invoice system, and why the second year costs more than the first.
July 28, 2026 · 814 words · moving to japan · company setup
Nothing matches that.