Japan Business Manager Visa 2026: Founder's Entry Checklist

Quick answer: Entering the Japanese market as a founder means sequencing four things correctly: choosing between a GK or KK entity, lining up a Business Manager visa strategy that meets the October 2025 capital and staffing rules, opening a corporate bank account (the step that trips up the most founders), and planning your first local hire. Get the order wrong and each step becomes more expensive to unwind later.

This is the checklist version of our full Japan subsidiary setup guide — that guide is the deep-dive on every step below; this page is the sequenced, scannable version to work through. Rules current as of July 2026; the Business Manager visa was overhauled in October 2025 and banking has tightened independently, so verify figures before committing capital.

1. Decide your entity type: GK or KK

Quick answer: GK = simpler, cheaper LLC-equivalent; KK = joint-stock structure with more credibility with banks, enterprise clients, and investors. Identical tax treatment; both work for the Business Manager visa. Full comparison: GK vs KK and the guide's entity section.

• Choose GK for lower cost and simpler governance with no near-term outside fundraising, or KK for fundraising, eventual sale, enterprise-sales credibility, or a sector where joint-stock is the norm
• Size the capital to the visa rules, not corporate law — no statutory minimum to incorporate, but a Business Manager visa now requires ¥30 million regardless of entity type
• Decide on Japan-based representation early — legally optional to incorporate since 2015, but banks and Immigration respond better with at least one Japan-based representative

2. Line up your visa strategy under the October 2025 rules

Quick answer: The Business Manager visa now requires all of: ¥30 million capital, one qualifying full-time employee, JLPT N2 / B2 Japanese (you or an employee), three years' management experience or a qualifying degree, and a business plan certified by a licensed consultant, CPA, or tax accountant. Start this in parallel with entity registration, not after.

• If your plan was built on the old ¥5 million figure, re-run the runway math now — capital alone no longer satisfies the visa (what changed and the 7 common mistakes)
• If ¥30 million isn't realistic on day one, evaluate the Startup Visa: up to two years through a participating municipality to build toward the threshold — our month-by-month transition plan
• Line up the mandatory business plan certification (CPA / zeirishi / SME consultant) before the filing, not during it
• Understand where the COE fits if you're applying from abroad
• Confirm current figures with a licensed gyoseishoshi before finalizing capital structure — they've already changed once

We were recently talking with a family from Florida who'd moved to Tokyo and were partway through their COE application. Even with the Startup Visa's two-year ramp, ¥30 million is a lot to be staring down at the end of it — which is why the prep items above (banking history early, real revenue during the ramp) matter more than any single filing.

3. Open a corporate bank account — the slowest step

Quick answer: Two to five months is common for newly incorporated foreign-owned entities, first-attempt rejections are frequent, and banks generally allow only one serious attempt. Full walkthrough with a bank-by-bank comparison table: corporate banking guide.

Have ready before the first application:

• Certificate of Registered Matters (issued within the last three months)
• Articles of Incorporation and Seal Registration Certificate (法人印鑑証明書)
• Registered company seal (hanko)
• Proof of a physical office — virtual-only addresses are frequently rejected by banks, separately from any visa requirement
• Business plan (ideally in Japanese) plus evidence of real operations — contracts, website, client relationships
• Valid residence card and passport for the representative director attending
• A bank sequencing decision: online bank (GMO Aozora, Rakuten) first for speed, megabank in parallel for the long-term relationship

4. Plan your first local hire

Quick answer: The right first hire can satisfy the visa's JLPT N2 language requirement on your behalf — and Japanese employment law makes hires hard to reverse, so structure the contract deliberately. Details: hiring your first employee.

• Define the role so the hire qualifies for the visa's full-time-employee requirement (Japanese national, PR, spouse of Japanese/PR, or long-term resident)
• Decide fixed-term vs indefinite-term deliberately — termination without objectively reasonable grounds is effectively unavailable, and successive fixed-term contracts past five cumulative years convert on request
• Complete social insurance, pension, and Hello Work registrations before day one — gaps here resurface at visa renewal

FAQ

Do I need a Business Manager visa to open a company in Japan? Not to incorporate — foreign individuals and corporations can own 100% of a Japanese entity without living in Japan. You need the Business Manager visa specifically if you intend to live in Japan and personally manage the business day-to-day.

How much capital do I actually need in 2026? There's no statutory minimum to incorporate a GK or KK itself. If you're also pursuing a Business Manager visa, current rules require at least ¥30 million in capital as one of five conditions that must be met together — verify this figure before committing, as it has already changed once (from ¥5 million pre-October 2025).

Which is harder in 2026 — the visa or the bank account? Both have gotten harder. The visa now has a materially higher bar, and banks have independently tightened approval standards for foreign-owned entities since the Panama Papers-era AML reforms. Plan for both to take longer than pre-2025 guides suggest.

Can I run the company without moving to Japan myself? Yes — many founders operate a Japan subsidiary with a locally hired representative or director while remaining overseas, avoiding the Business Manager visa process entirely. This shifts the compliance burden but doesn't eliminate it.

Where to go from here

Every stage above has failure modes that are expensive to unwind once you're mid-process — a capital structure sized for the old visa rules, a bank application submitted without local documentation, an entity choice that doesn't match your funding plans. We help founders sequence this correctly before they're committed to a structure that doesn't work. Visa and immigration filings are handled by our in-house gyoseishoshi office (SMC行政書士事務所, Tokyo registration 第24081451号); tax, legal, and banking steps run through the licensed professionals and contacts we work with — including our tax accountant partner — coordinated by the same team.

If you want a walkthrough tailored to your specific situation and timeline, book a free consultation.

This article reflects publicly available guidance — including Immigration Services Agency published criteria — and current application practice as of July 2026. We review these figures quarterly given how frequently the rules have shifted recently. It is not legal, tax, or immigration advice. For your specific situation, consult a licensed gyoseishoshi, tax accountant, or immigration attorney.