Your Japanese Business

Setup Introduction
Presented by Michio Matsuzaki
matsu-m@galaxy.ocn.ne.jp
Japanese Administrative Lawyer
Financial Planner
International Business Consultant
 Who Is Michio Matsuzaki?
• Japanese Administrative Lawyer
(gyoseishoshi) – Accredited by the A
Association of Administrative
Lawyers, Saitama Prefecture Branch
• Financial Planner – Possesses 2nd
Grade Financial Planner License
granted by the Japan Association for
Financial Planners
• Immigration Lawyer authorized by the
Tokyo Immigration Bureau
• International business consultant for
14 years with the German chemical
giant, Merck Japan Ltd. Involved in
sales, marketing and various trade-
related activities in 12 countries.
 What Does Matsuzaki General
Counsel Do?
• Established MGCO in 2001 to serve the
domestic and overseas foreigner market as a
legal and administrative consultancy.
• The main areas of assistance:
 Incorporating businesses in Japan.
 Visa and immigration procedures.
 Preparing contracts in Japanese/English
concerned with international business and
trading with Japan.
 Consulting about other sales and marketing
matters in Japan.
Necessary Period For Setting Up A
Japan Branch (1)
Case One: Foreigners Who Have Not Yet Resided In
Japan
(Estimated Time Needed)
1) Enter Japan with a temporary visitor visa = 1 week or longer
2) Work on preparations such as finding a residence/office, employees, etc. = 2~3
weeks or occasionally longer
3) Incorporate your business as a registered company = 2~3 weeks or
occasionally longer
4) Preparation to apply for an investor/business manager visa or apply for license
or special permission for your particular business = 1~2 weeks or longer
5) Obtain an investor/business manager visa and license or permission, when
required = 3 months, more or less
6) You start a your business as the owner of the company = 18~21 weeks or
longer to go through the entire process
 Necessary Period for Setting up a
Branch Office or a Company in
Japan (2)
Case Two: Foreigners Who Are Residing or
Have Legal Residence in Japan
(Estimated Time Needed)
1) Work on finding and office, hiring employees, etc. = 2~3 weeks
minimum
2) Incorporate your business as a registered company = 2~3 weeks
minimum
3) Preparation to apply for a investor/business manager visa and to
apply for required licenses and permission for your business = 1~2
weeks or occasionally longer
4) Obtain an investor/business manager visa and license or
permission, when required = 3 months, more or less
5) You start a your business as the owner of the company = 4 weeks or
longer to go through the entire process
Costs for Incorporating a Business
in Japan
 Costs for Incorporating a Business
in Japan ( Supporting Data)
• (*1) Amongst the indispensable costs the registration
tax is 0.7% of the amounts of initial capital but
JPY60,000 for LLC and JPY150,000 KK as the
minimum. There is no such an initial capital for LLP so
that the registration tax is fixed with JPY60,000 for
LLP.
(*2) Actual expenses such as traveling etc. will be
separately charged.
• (*3) In case some additional legal procedures are
needed upon establishing your company such as
contribution in kind, investment from foreign parent
company etc., additional costs and our legal service
fees will be charged other than mentioned above.
Indispensable Costs for Registering a
Branch Office (BO), a KK and an LLC
 Indispensable Costs for Registering
a Branch Office (BO), a KK and an
LLC (Supporting Data)

 Amongst the indispensable costs the registration tax is 0.7% of the

amounts of initial capital but JPY60,000 for LLC and JPY150,000
KK as the minimum. There is no such an initial capital for LLP so
that the registration tax is fixed with JPY60,000 for LLP.
 In addition to the a.m. indispensable costs you will need to procure
relevant seals to be registered and Commercial Registrations and
Certificates of Representative Seal upon necessity. Upon your
request our firm can procure such necessary seals (a representative
seal, a bank seal etc.) with additional charge JPY10,000 per seal.
 In case you did not hire law firms like us but did the a.m. procedures
on your on, you will need to bear the revenue-stamp tax JPY40,000
to be applied on the articles of incorporation in addition to the a.m.
indispensable costs.
Supporting Data for Other Services
 For KK and LLC, fee for registration scrivener is included.
 Daily fee and expenses for traveling will be separately charged.
 As for coordinative services those payments to real estate companies, H.R.
agents, office equipments vendors etc. will be separately needed.
 Those conditions you need to meet in order to get an investment /
management visa are as follows:
1) Your company must have set up /rented own office or shop in Japan
prior to your visa application.
2) Your annual investment into Japan must be JPY5,000,000 or above.
3) Your company must hire two employees or more (beside yourself) prior
to your visa application. However, those companies just newly
established can be exempted from this regulation for the first period of
visa permission, so that what you need is only JPY5,000,000 initial
capital in case of a new company.
4) You need experience in management of three years or more (including
the period you studied management in a graduate school), and salary
equivalency to Japanese management.
Are you ready to start a business in
Japan? Then contact us:

Matsuzaki General Counsel

Office Japan Seekers LLC.

http://www8.ocn.ne.jp/~risk21/index.html

Email matsu-m@galaxy.ocn.ne.jp

• Tel: Phone : + 81 (0)48 758 7572

• Cell-phone : + 81 (0)90 3500 9678
• Address: In Saitama Prefecture, Japan