Job Discussion Forums

[GreenCardigan]

Before I write anything I want make very clear that I understand the forum rules and that I have no intention of advertising here on this website.

Given the wide range of topics on discussed on this forum, from weddings to the yakuza, I'm surprised to find so little written about people's experiences starting up businesses in Japan. And when I say businesses I mean anything from, say, a flower shop to an English school.

I've been living here the last 2 and half years, I've got a great girlfriend, great friends, and I would like to call Japan home for at least another 4 or 5 years before going back to Canada. But I'd like to experience something new. Hence the interest in business.

I'm trying to start my own bar, but I've been told by some that there's lots of hoops to jump through for foreigners wanting to open businesses here, and others have told me that Japanese government rules outright discourage foreigners from starting up a little business.

There's conflicting information about how easy it is to obtain the proper visa for the self-employed. One person told me that the business needs to have revenues of 10, 000, 000 yen with two employees. Yet, someone recently told me that the government had recently changed the rules, making it easier for us foreigners to start our own businesses in Japan.

My question to forum members is whether anyone has had any experiences starting up a small business in Japan? What sort of visa did you apply for? And did you find that laws were discriminatory towards you from starting your own business? Or was it the same for a Japanese person?

[Glenski]

[southofreality]

As Glenski mentioned, the SOHO forum at Gaijin Pot will give you access to lots of posts about starting and running a business in Japan. Be warned, though, that most of the threads in that forum go nowhere. Unfortunately, there aren't any other places on the web that I've heard of where information on the subject is organized. At first, try only clicking on threads where Trip Hop was either the original poster or the last poster.

You can also try the JETRO site; It was updated last year and is a lot clearer than it used to be. However, starting a bar, or your own English school for that matter, may not require you to go the route of starting your own company, so I don't know if the JETRO site will be all that useful.

There are foreigners running their own bars here, but most foreigners I know who have places are here on spouse visas.

[seanmcginty]

If you haven't already, you should probably try to get to know some people who have done the same thing. In most big cities there are a lot of foreigners who have opened bars or restaurants and would be a treasure trove of information. I was friends with the owner of an Irish bar who opened and ran his own place for years, I've never been interested in opening a bar but I know if I ever did I would be picking his brain for sure.

[SeasonedVet]

I don't know about the "hoops" to jump through nor about making it difficult for foreigners to start/own a business here.
I went to immigration before to ask about a business/investor visa. It all seemed pretty clear and simple. You show them your work plan, room space etc etc hand all those documents over to them, ( I forget if you needed to have a sponsor or be married to Japanese ) and they issue the visa after you pay the fees and as ong as you can make a minimun specified amount per year you can keep thee visa,if you don't you lose the visa, and you needed to have in your employ 2 Japanese persons.
I got this info about 2 years ago so you might want to check and see if anything has changed or if my memory is fuzzy.

You can just go to immigration to the information section and ask. They will be able to answer all your questions and then you can share your answers.

[Glenski]

Terrie Lloyd just had a seminar on this topic. You had to pay about 10,000 yen to attend, but he apparently does this regularly. Been here 24 years so he should know a thing or two. Might not hurt to look him up on www.daijob.com .

[southofreality]

[GreenCardigan]

Guys, thanks for the pointers. It's appreciated.

Glenski, you're right, lots of flamers on the gaijinpot boards.