Starting Business in Japan

Registering a new company requires that various documents be filed with different government offices and payment of a fee of about ￥200,000. There are English-speaking Japanese lawyers who specialize in navigating the bureaucratic maze for you. Expect to pay ￥250,000 for the lawyer, which means setting up a company costs in total approximately ￥450,000.

It is possible to register a company with capital of just ￥1, but most businesses will need at least several million yen to get started.

Make sure you do your homework. You may find out things are a lot more complicated than you think.

And ask yourself are you really prepared to work 20 hours a day to make it happen? If that feels like a sacrifice, maybe it itsn't for you.