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Smart Contents — Inbound
Japan Market Entry Support|Est. 2015 · Tokyo

From visa to revenue — your Japan launch partner, end to end.

How to set up a company in Japan as an overseas founder — KK or GK incorporation, the Business Manager visa, bank account opening, hiring, and Japan-specific sales localization. One Smart PM coordinates the full launch on a transparent, stage-based fee. English / Japanese / Chinese team, Tokyo-based.

Book a free 45-min callSee services & pricing
  • No Japanese required
  • Easy Tokyo office setup
  • Multilingual PM, one stop
Launch progress · Live
M2 / M6
  1. M0 · Day 0Complete
    Brief intake
  2. M1 · Week 1Complete
    Feasibility & route
  3. M2 · In progressActive
    Business Manager visa
  4. M4 · Month 4
    Bank + entity live
  5. M9 · Month 9
    First revenue
4–6
Months
1
PM owner
4
Languages
01
2015
Founded in Tokyo
02
31+
In-house staff
03
50+
Overseas teams guided
04
100%
English-led delivery
01Challenges

Three walls every entrant hits — almost without exception.

Overseas teams entering Japan run into the same blockers, repeatedly. Our bilingual in-house team is built to break through all three.

Where launches stall

Most delays are coordination failures, not strategy failures.

Japan entry breaks down when legal, immigration, banking and revenue workstreams move at different speeds. The launch plan has to connect them early.

Procedure, language, and revenue blockers must be coordinated together.THREE BLOCKERSONE COORDINATED PLANProceduresVisa · entity · bankLanguageAuthorities · expertsRevenueLocal sales motionONE PLANLaunchOwned by one PM
  1. 01 · PROCEDURES

    Bureaucracy and complexity

    Incorporation, the Business Manager visa, and corporate bank accounts are involved processes — back-and-forth with HQ can stall progress for months.

  2. 02 · LANGUAGE & CULTURE

    Language and business customs

    English-capable senior advisors are scarce. Japan-specific employment rules, social insurance, and PE risk can't be judged from a search engine.

  3. 03 · REVENUE

    Early revenue and sales

    The entity is live — but localizing sales collateral and running Japan-only channels (LINE, Yahoo!) needs playbooks that don't exist overseas.

— All three walls, solved by one in-house team.

From visa to revenueEN / JA subtitles
01.52-minute overview

How we'd plan your first 90 days in Japan.

A short walkthrough from our Smart PM team — feasibility, Business Manager visa route, and the milestones to lock in before you board the plane.

Or talk to a PM now
02Strengths

Why founders pick Smart Contents.

Visa expertise, a single-point Smart PM, and end-to-end execution from incorporation through revenue — one team, one fee model.

Core strength · 01Standalone from ¥200,000

In-house visa & immigration experts.

The Business Manager visa is the single biggest blocker for overseas founders. We've made it a specialty: a dedicated visa team, partner gyoseishoshi, and an interim Japan-resident representative arrangement for founders who can't relocate yet. Highly Skilled Professional and family-dependent visas are coordinated in parallel.

  • Business Manager visa
  • Highly Skilled Professional
  • Family dependents
  • Interim JP representative
Discuss visa route

Immigration matters are subject to authority review. We assist and coordinate; outcomes are not guaranteed.

JAPAN · 日本国RESIDENCE CARDSTATUS / 在留資格Business Manager経営・管理PERIOD / 期間1 YEAR · 1年NO. / 番号AB12-3456-7890-CD入管法令に基づき発行ISSUED · MOJAPPROVED許可2026 · TOKYOCOORDINATED BY · Smart PM
02Pricing

Transparent timeline pricing.

Every stage, what's needed, and the starting price — published. No hidden continuation contracts.

  • Step 0Market entry¥100K〜
  • Step 1Incorporation¥200K〜
  • Step 2Back-office¥150K/mo〜
  • Step 3Sales & marketing¥500K〜
  • Step 4Maturity¥300K/mo〜
03Coordination

One PM, an entire specialist network.

Your Smart PM orchestrates gyoseishoshi, shihoshoshi, tax accountants and labor consultants. Brief one person, in English.

  • Gyoseishoshi
  • Shihoshoshi
  • Zeirishi
  • Sharoshi
04End-to-end

From back office to first revenue.

Incorporation isn't the finish line. We continue through sales localization, LINE/Yahoo! marketing, hiring, and CS — and stay on until the numbers start moving.

  1. 01Incorporation
  2. 02Banking & back-office
  3. 03Hiring & ops
  4. 04Sales localization
  5. 05First revenue
5+
Specialists
18
HQ countries
9+
Years
03Single point of contact

One Smart PM, accountable for your full Japan entry.

The hard part is not one form or one appointment. It is keeping immigration, entity setup, banking, tax, labor, real estate and revenue workstreams moving together. One Smart PM owns that coordination, so your team has one English-speaking operating layer for the full launch.

Smart PM

One owner across every Japan-side dependency.

1
PM owner
5+
Specialist types routed
4
Languages standard
How it works
  1. 01

    Intake

    You brief the launch desk once in English.

  2. 02

    Routing

    Your PM assigns the right Japanese-side specialist.

  3. 03

    Control

    Progress, blockers and approvals stay visible to HQ.

Client outcome
Net effect
  • Parallel advisor chasing
  • Duplicate explanations
  • Unmanaged translation chain

One English thread, owned end-to-end by your Smart PM.

01

Brief once

English intake from HQ or founder

02

PM controls routing

Visa, tax, labor and hiring workstreams

03

HQ sees progress

Monthly status and escalation points

Managed layer

  • English-native communication

    Reports, calls, contracts, expert coordination — English by default.

  • Timezone overlap

    US West / Europe / SEA overlap — we move with your inbox.

  • Japanese-language authority handling

    Immigration, tax office, pension office — in-person dealings handled by your PM.

  • HQ-ready reporting

    Monthly English reports, board summaries, minutes translation — standard.

Operating promise

One accountable launch owner. One English operating rhythm. One source of truth for Japan progress.

45-min free consultation
04Voices (representative)

What changed — in the founders' own words.

Three founders we've landed in Japan with. Names anonymized at request; industries and outcomes as originally given.

I landed in Tokyo on a Friday, opened our bank account on Tuesday, and ran payroll by month-end. Three months earlier I was Googling 'how to get a Business Manager visa' at 2am.
EU
European SaaS founder
Series A · Berlin → Tokyo
Operational in 14 weeks
Our San Francisco HQ kept asking why it was taking so long. After Smart Contents came in, the EN monthly board pack arrived — and the political friction disappeared. The PM became our internal translator.
US
US fintech · Japan country manager
Series C · HQ San Francisco
First hire closed in month 4
The PE-risk diagnostic alone paid for the engagement. We were one step away from PE recognition that would have taken 30% of Asia profit. They flagged it at kickoff.
SG
SEA-based global PMO
NYSE-listed · HQ Singapore
PE risk avoided · 9-market sync done
05Who we serve

Three patterns we support every month.

If any of these sound like you, we've already run the playbook. See exactly how the pricing, timeline, and PM hand-off would map to your case.

ASolo founder

“I'll be moving to Tokyo alone next quarter.”

SaaS, fintech and Web3 founders relocating personally, first.

Top concern
Business Manager visa rejection risk
Our scope
Visa / KK / bank / housing / phone / hanko
Expected timeline
3–6 months to landing
See budget range
BRegional GM hiring
Most common

“HQ wants a Japan subsidiary stood up in 6 months.”

Series B/C scale-ups hiring a country manager remotely.

Top concern
Hiring ahead of infrastructure
Our scope
Entity, hiring, payroll, JGAAP→IFRS consolidation
Expected timeline
6–12 months to first revenue
See budget range
CGlobal PMO

“We want Japan readied as part of a 9-market rollout.”

Multinationals running audit-grade subsidiary setup.

Top concern
PE risk, transfer pricing, J-SOX
Our scope
Entity, governance, audit liaison, ISMS, board reporting
Expected timeline
12–24 months to steady state
See budget range
06Services & pricing

Services and pricing, on a timeline you can plan around.

Every category, sub-service, deliverable, and starting price — published. Items marked ★ are visa / immigration (our core strength).

Choose a stage

Click a stage to update the pricing table below.

Swipe stages
Now viewing
Market entry & feasibility
Timeline
0–3M
Starts from
From ¥100K
STEP 0·0–3M·Pre-entry validation

Market entry & feasibility

Go/No-Go calls, surfacing international tax and legal risk, and locking the optimal entry scheme — before any capital moves.

Table includes
  • Service categories
  • Scope of work
  • Deliverables
  • Starting prices
  • #01
    Market entry strategy
    ¥500,000〜
    Scope
    Market study, competitive analysis, entry scheme, regulatory review, KPI design
    Deliverable
    Market report, business plan
  • #02
    Go/No-Go feasibility
    ¥200,000〜
    Scope
    Industry regulation, licensing, tax simulation
    Deliverable
    Risk diagnostic report
  • #03
    Partner introductions
    ¥100,000〜
    Scope
    Partner / distributor / VC / trading house intros
    Deliverable
    Shortlist
  • #04
    International tax / PE risk
    ¥300,000〜
    Scope
    Transfer pricing review, PE risk-avoidance design
    Deliverable
    International tax scheme report
  • #05
    IP / trademark search & filing
    ¥100,000〜
    Scope
    Prior-art search and filing for brand and patents in Japan
    Deliverable
    Trademark report / filing

Indicative all-in: Step 0→3 typically lands ¥3–6M one-time + ¥450K–1.2M/month, depending on visa, hires, and revenue scope. Final pricing confirmed after the 45-min consultation.

Add-onStandalone packages

Solve a single blocker, on a fixed-fee package.

Visa, bank account, sales localization — for teams that only need one thing solved, these can be contracted individually. Already running a Step 0–4 engagement? These items are already included; don't double-book them here.

FREE45-min discovery call

Not sure which step you're on?

No sales deck, no upsell. A Smart PM who has walked 50+ teams through this will give you a candid read on timeline, regulatory risk, and budget range.

Get a candid read on your case
07Comparison

DIY, Big 4, or a bilingual specialist — choose what fits.

Entering Japan generally takes one of three paths. We compete with all three. Here's the honest read.

DIY / Freelance

Best when
Lowest cash cost
Tradeoff
Highest coordination load

Big 4 / Large consult

Best when
Board comfort
Tradeoff
High retainer, slower handover
Recommended

Smart Contents

Best when
Managed Japan launch
Tradeoff
Not the cheapest, but fewer surprises

Language

DIY / Freelance
Email English; gaps at authorities
Big 4 / Large consult
EN ok, JP handled by external partners
Smart Contents
English-native PM, all authorities in JP

Visa expertise

DIY / Freelance
Outsourced to lawyer (~¥500K+)
Big 4 / Large consult
Outsourced, opaque markup
Smart Contents
In-house specialty, from ¥200,000

Best fit for

DIY / Freelance
Cost-sensitive solo founders willing to coordinate vendors themselves
Big 4 / Large consult
Fortune 500 subsidiaries with audit, transfer-pricing, and complex compliance scope
Smart Contents
Foreign-funded SaaS / B2B teams that need one English operating layer to reach revenue

Pricing model

DIY / Freelance
Hourly, scope risk unclear
Big 4 / Large consult
¥10M+ fixed retainer
Smart Contents
Line-item published, from ¥100,000

Single window

DIY / Freelance
Coordinate 5+ firms yourself
Big 4 / Large consult
Account lead + rotating juniors
Smart Contents
One PM, end-to-end

Launch time

DIY / Freelance
9–18 months (high variance)
Big 4 / Large consult
6–12 months
Smart Contents
Entity + visa in 4–6 months

Post-launch ops

DIY / Freelance
Re-source vendors after handover
Big 4 / Large consult
Transitioned to local BPO
Smart Contents
Same team continues Steps 2–4

HQ reporting

DIY / Freelance
Translate everything in-house
Big 4 / Large consult
EN board pack on request
Smart Contents
Monthly EN report, standard

We aren't the cheapest. We're the path with the fewest surprise costs.

08Reference cases

Three patterns. Honest budgets.

From lean SaaS founders to enterprise subsidiaries — the three engagement shapes we see most often, with real budget ranges.

Reference examples. Indicative ranges, subject to scope and authority review timelines.

ACASE 01

Lean SaaS founder

Overseas IT startup · SaaS / tech
Initial
¥3.5Mfrom
Monthly
¥450Kfrom

Business Manager visa application + government fees billed separately.

3–6 months to landing
Scope included6 items
  1. Incorporation + Business Manager visa
  2. Bank account + Stripe
  3. Contract localization (NDA, employment, ToS)
  4. Website + sales deck JP translation
  5. Country manager hire (×1)
  6. Bilingual accounting + payroll BPO
See matching services
BCASE 02
Popular

Mid-market B2C / retail

Overseas mid-market B2C · retail brand
Initial
¥10Mfrom
Monthly
¥1.2Mfrom

Business Manager visa application + government fees billed separately.

6–12 months to first revenue
Scope included8 items
  1. Market study + entry scheme
  2. KK + multiple visas (incl. family)
  3. Office search + IT infra
  4. HR rulebook + evaluation
  5. Core team hires (×3)
  6. Trade show + PE risk diagnostic
  7. Accounting + HQ reporting BPO
  8. PR + LINE official + CS
See matching services
CCASE 03

Enterprise Japan subsidiary

Overseas enterprise · global rollout
Initial
¥18Mfrom
Monthly
¥2.0Mfrom

Business Manager visa application + government fees billed separately.

12–24 months to steady state
Scope included7 items
  1. Entry strategy + regulation + JV
  2. M&A target sourcing + DD
  3. Transfer pricing + APA
  4. Executive headhunting
  5. IT security + ISMS / J-SOX
  6. GAAP conversion (JGAAP → IFRS)
  7. Enterprise inside-sales build
See matching services
09Process

Four steps to get started together.

From first inquiry to kickoff: typically within two weeks. The discovery call is free and conducted in English.

What you leave with

A clear route, budget range, and launch owner before execution begins.

45
min call
1
PM owner
2w
to kickoff
  1. 01
    Day 0

    Inquiry

    Send your current situation, target timing, and what is blocking the Japan launch.

  2. 02
    Within 1 business day

    Discovery call

    A Smart PM runs a free 45-minute call in English to clarify route, risk, and urgency.

  3. 03
    After diagnosis

    Plan & quote

    You receive a timeline-based proposal with scope, deliverables, owners, and line-item pricing.

  4. 04
    Typically within 2 weeks

    Project start

    Your PM activates the right specialist team and starts execution against the agreed timeline.

Ready to map the right route? Start with the free discovery call — no obligation, NDA on request.

Book a free consultation
10FAQ

The questions overseas founders ask us first.

The ten questions that come up in almost every first consultation. Grouped by topic — jump straight to what you need.

Visa & Immigration

1 question
Q01Can I get a Business Manager visa without living in Japan?
We support the application process from overseas, including an interim Japan-resident representative arrangement. All immigration matters are subject to authority review; outcomes are not guaranteed.

Setup & Compliance

3 questions
Q02Do I need to speak Japanese to set up a company in Japan?
No. Your Smart PM handles authority-facing communication in Japanese; you stay in English throughout. Documents are produced bilingually as needed.
Q03What's the minimum capital for a KK (Kabushiki Kaisha)?
Legally ¥1, but for our engagements we recommend ¥30M as a working minimum — it supports a strong Business Manager visa case, smooth corporate bank account opening, and credibility with Japanese counterparts. We'll right-size based on your scenario.
Q04Do I need a Japan-resident representative director from the start?
Strictly speaking, post-2015 regulatory changes have relaxed this, but it remains practically important for bank account opening. We can provide an interim arrangement if needed.

Operations & Banking

3 questions
Q05How hard is corporate bank account opening for overseas founders?
It has tightened significantly. We help package the business plan, prepare interview materials, and coordinate with megabanks and online banks to improve readiness — though approval is at the bank's discretion.
Q06Can I run the Japan entity remotely from my home country?
Yes, with the right back-office setup and bilingual reporting. Many of our clients operate this way for the first 12–24 months.
Q07Realistically, how long does launch take?
Entity + Business Manager visa: ~4–6 months in our typical engagements. First revenue motion: 6–12 months. Subject to authority review timelines.

Pricing & Engagement

3 questions
Q08What's the typical total cost for an overseas founder?
Lean SaaS: from ~¥3.5M initial + ¥450K/month. Mid-market deploy: from ~¥10M + ¥1.2M/month. Enterprise subsidiary: from ~¥18M + ¥2M/month. Ranges are indicative and depend on scope.
Q09Am I locked into long retainers?
No. Engagements are scoped per phase. Standalone packages (visa, bank account, sales localization) can be contracted individually.
Q10Can we sign an NDA before the first consultation?
Yes. We provide a mutual NDA on request before the 45-minute discovery call.
Let's start your Japan story

Tell us where you stand — we'll map the route from there.

A 45-minute free discovery call. We sketch the timeline, surface regulatory pitfalls, and — if there's a fit — share a transparent quote. No obligation.

Typical response: within one business day (JST).