Starting business in Japan (such as used car export)

Cherry BlossomIf you want to start a business (such as exporting used cars from Japan) and make a new company in Japan as the director, the general process is like follows. (This is about the case when you don’t have your permanent visa.)

  1. Come to Japan by short-term visa.
  2. Find your home and office in Japan (it may be the same place if permitted by the landlord).
  3. Establish your company and hire people.
  4. Get your investor/business manager visa (you need to at least invest 5,000,000yen to your company).
  5. Make the necessary report to the tax office; police office etc. (depends on what business you start).

These procedures are very complicated for people who don’t speak or understand Japanese language, so it is suggestible to find a business partner in Japan (Japanese or someone with permanent residence visa), to make the procedure easier.

If you don’t have a partner in Japan, or if you want to do the business all by yourself, we suggest you to hire lawyers.

We can support you about establishing company in Japan and getting investor/business manager visa.

Cost for establishing the company in general cases

  • Actual cost (registering fee etc.): about 200,000 yen
  • Lawyer’s fee: between 105,000 yen to 315,000 yen for small companies.

Cost for getting the investor/business manager visa in general cases

  • Lawyer’s fee: around 210,000 yen in most cases.

After establishing the company, you will have to consider about tax problems in Japan.
We can introduce you to a tax accountant who can speak English, if needed.

Liability Insurance covering Attorney Fee

car insuranceAssume that you were involved in a traffic accident in Japan.

In Japan, when you claim damage to the bad driver, you will have to pay your attorney’s fee by yourself. Even if you go through a lawsuit, the court will only grant 10% of the total damage as the attorney’s fee.

For example, if the court says you have right to be paid 2 million yen as the damage, you can only get 0.2 million yen as the attorney’s fee. In most cases, the actual attorney’s fee is much more than 0.2 million yen, so you’ll have to pay the rest.

Another example. If your damage was just a hundred thousand yen, you can’t even pay the attorney’s fee from the amount you can get. So in many cases, you may have to forget about using the legal procedures.

Of course, in theory, you can go through the legal procedure without hiring an attorney. But if you are not good at Japanese language, it should be very difficult for you to do all the paper works by yourself. If you think of the time you have to spend, it may be almost impossible.

So, to protect your right in these situations, we strongly suggest you to buy liability insurance, which covers attorney’s fee.

There are some insurance agents who can speak English. If you’re interested, please contact.

Please note that it is very important to have an English speaking insurance agent, because when you are involved in a trouble, you can ask them for help.

See also “About Legal Expense Insurance (Car and non-Car)”

The Kawasaki Chamber of Commerce & Industry

kawasho

The Kawasaki Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Kawasaki Shoko Kaigi-sho) is an organization which promotes comprehensive improvement and development of commerce and industry in Kawasaki area.

https://www.kawasaki-cci.or.jp/en/index.html

Our law office is a member of this chamber, and it will be our pleasure to welcome international business people coming to Kawasaki area. Please feel free to come to our office to talk about the legal matter of your business.

Free legal advice at Roppongi (collaboration with METROPOLIS magazine)

The METROPOLIS magazine (English free magazine) is going to hold a free legal/accounting advice at Roppongi on September 21st 1pm to 5pm, for the readers of the magazine. Attorney Sumikawa will take care of the legal advice. Our legal advice is charged usually, but it will be free on this day.

Date: Saturday, September 21 from 1pm to 5pm
Address: OG building 4F, 1-3-4 Nishiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo

You need an appointment to have a free consultation. See the link and contact Metropolis for details.

https://classifieds.metropolis.co.jp/ad/detail/free-legal-accounting-advice