When an overseas company considers expanding into Japan, “how much will it actually cost” is a point they worry about first. The cost of expanding into Japan varies greatly depending on the form of entry, the industry, the scale of the business, whether the manager needs a visa, and so on.
This article lays out a guide to the main costs involved in expanding into Japan—company setup, licenses, the visa application, tax, office costs, and more. These are reference values only and change with individual circumstances, so please use them as a reference for getting an overall sense.
The Cost of Setting Up a Company
For a Joint-Stock Company
| Cost Item | Approximate Amount |
| Articles of incorporation notarization fee (notary public) | About ¥30,000–50,000 |
| Revenue stamp for the articles (not required for electronic articles) | ¥40,000 |
| Registration and license tax | From ¥150,000 (capital × 0.7%, minimum ¥150,000) |
| Obtaining the certificate of registered matters and certificate of seal registration | From a few thousand yen |
| Fee for engaging a judicial scrivener (optional) | About ¥50,000–150,000 |
| Approximate total | About ¥250,000–400,000 |
For a Limited Liability Company
| Cost Item | Approximate Amount |
| Registration and license tax | From ¥60,000 (capital × 0.7%, minimum ¥60,000) |
| Fee for engaging a judicial scrivener (optional) | About ¥30,000–100,000 |
| Approximate total | About ¥100,000–200,000 |
If it is only the cost of setting up the company, a limited liability company is the lower-cost option. However, once you include the visa application, licenses, and tax advisory fees discussed below, the difference in setup costs becomes relatively small within the overall picture.
The Cost of an Office
To set up a company in Japan, you need an address that will serve as the registered head-office location. In addition, a Business Manager visa application requires that you secure an office with genuine substance.
Virtual Office
This is a service for renting just an address. It can be used for around a few thousand to several tens of thousands of yen per month. However, for some industries and for a Business Manager visa application, there are cases where a virtual office alone is judged insufficient.
Serviced Office / Shared Office
You can use a dedicated private room or shared space. The going rate is around ¥20,000–100,000 per month. For a Business Manager visa application, a serviced office with a dedicated working space tends to be more readily accepted.
Ordinary Leased Office
When you lease a typical office building, in central Tokyo it is generally from several hundred thousand yen per month. At move-in, initial costs such as a deposit, key money, and a brokerage fee apply.
The Cost of License Applications
Depending on the industry, you cannot begin operating until you obtain a license after setting up the company. A guide to the application costs for the main licenses is as follows.
| Type of License | Application Fee (Statutory Cost) | Approximate Administrative Scrivener Fee |
| Restaurant business permit | About a few thousand to ¥20,000 | About ¥50,000–100,000 |
| Construction business license | ¥90,000 (governor’s license) | About ¥100,000–200,000 |
| Real estate brokerage license | ¥33,000 (governor’s license) | About ¥100,000–200,000 |
| Worker dispatch business license | ¥90,000 | About ¥150,000–300,000 |
| Secondhand goods dealer permit | ¥19,000 | About ¥30,000–80,000 |
Depending on the type of license, some take several months from application to acquisition. In addition, preparation costs to meet the license requirements (capital, office, personnel, and so on) apply separately.
The Cost of a Visa Application
When the representative or resident staff are foreign nationals, a status of residence (visa) application is required. A guide to the application costs for the main statuses of residence is as follows.
| Type of Application | Approximate Administrative Scrivener Fee |
| Business Manager visa (certification) | About ¥300,000–750,000 |
| Business Manager visa (change) | About ¥300,000–750,000 |
| Business Manager visa (renewal) | About ¥80,000–230,000 |
| Intra-company Transferee visa | About ¥150,000–300,000 |
For a Business Manager visa application, the total grows large once you include the pre-application preparation costs—preparing the required documents, drawing up the business plan, securing the office, and so on. The first certification application in particular involves a lot of preparation, and the specialist fee tends to be higher.
In addition, because a visa application is premised on company setup being complete, it is important to draw up your funding plan based on the combined total of setup costs, license costs, and visa costs. The visa application is an application to the Immigration Services Agency, and you may be asked to submit additional documents during the review period. The review period often takes around one to three months as the standard processing period, and fixed costs such as office rent and tax advisory fees accrue during that time too. Funding that accounts for this time lag is necessary.
The Cost of Tax and Accounting
After setting up the company, you need to carry out tax filings, bookkeeping, social insurance procedures, and so on, on an ongoing basis. The retainer fees for a tax accountant and a social insurance and labor consultant are as follows.
| Item | Approximate Monthly Amount |
| Tax accountant retainer | ¥20,000–50,000/month (depending on scale) |
| Bookkeeping service | ¥10,000–30,000/month |
| Social insurance and labor consultant retainer | ¥20,000–40,000/month |
| Financial closing and filing fee (once a year) | About ¥100,000–300,000 |
The first business year involves many notifications and procedures, so the fee for engaging a tax accountant can be higher. Also, when handling things in Japanese is difficult, there are cases of engaging a multilingual specialist, in which case the cost may be added on top.
About Capital
In setting up a company, there is no legal minimum capital restriction (setup is possible even from ¥1). However, for a Business Manager visa application, capital of ¥30 million or more is a requirement (under the 2025 ordinance revision). This is a standard set by the Immigration Services Agency and is an important requirement showing the stability and continuity of the business.
It is important to set the amount of capital with a view to post-launch working funds, the office deposit, equipment investment, and so on. From the standpoint of clearing the level required for the visa application while also securing the funds needed for actual business operations, plan a realistic amount of capital.
An Image of the Total Cost of Expanding into Japan
Based on the above, here is a summary guide to the total cost of a typical expansion into Japan (setting up a subsidiary + obtaining a Business Manager visa).
| Cost Category | Approximate Amount |
| Company setup (joint-stock company) | ¥250,000–400,000 |
| Office (initial costs) | From several hundred thousand to over ¥1,000,000 |
| Business Manager visa application (specialist fee) | ¥300,000–750,000 |
| License application (depending on the industry) | ¥0–300,000 |
| Tax advisory (first year) | ¥300,000–600,000 |
| Approximate total | About ¥1,000,000–3,000,000 or more + capital |
This is a guide only and changes greatly depending on the industry, the scale of the business, and how you choose your specialists. It is important to draw up your funding plan keeping in mind that, separately from the capital, this much in initial costs is required.
Note that the above costs are all “initial costs,” and after the business starts, tax advisory fees, social insurance premiums, office rent, personnel costs, license renewal fees, and the like accrue on an ongoing basis. Drawing up a funding plan that anticipates not just a single year but at least two to three years’ worth of running costs forms the foundation for stable operation of your Japanese business. Also keep in mind that fluctuations in the exchange rate can change the sense of cost when converted into your own currency.
The Cost of Translation and Interpretation
In an overseas company’s expansion into Japan, translation and interpretation between Japanese and a foreign language become necessary at many points.
The situations requiring translation are wide-ranging—translating the articles of incorporation and registration documents, translating visa application documents, translating contracts, and so on. When entrusting translation to a translation company, the going rate is around ¥10–30 per character. Depending on the volume of documents, costs of tens of thousands of yen can apply. Also, when interpretation is needed for dealings with business partners or government offices, interpretation costs (around ¥30,000–80,000 per half-day) apply separately. By engaging a specialist firm that can handle multiple languages, there are cases where translation and interpretation costs can be reduced to some extent.
In addition, for documents requiring notarization or an apostille, local notarization costs apply separately. Because the cost and time of preparing documents differ greatly by country, we recommend confirming and arranging things early. Because cases where procedures are delayed due to document defects or translation errors are not uncommon, engaging a trustworthy specialist leads to cost reductions in the end.
Key Points for Keeping Costs Down
To use the money spent on expanding into Japan without waste, it is important to be conscious of the following points.
Choice of company type: There are cases where you can keep setup costs down by choosing a limited liability company while still meeting the license and visa requirements.
Using electronic articles of incorporation: By using electronic articles when setting up a joint-stock company, you can save the ¥40,000 revenue stamp cost.
Channel specialists through a single point of contact: Engaging a judicial scrivener, a tax accountant, an administrative scrivener, and a social insurance and labor consultant separately can increase coordination costs and make the fees comparatively higher. By engaging a specialist (or group of specialists) who can serve as a single point of contact, there are cases where you can keep total costs down. Especially in the early stages of expanding into Japan, because multiple procedures advance simultaneously, consulting a specialist who can manage the whole thing from a bird’s-eye view is also effective from a cost-effectiveness standpoint.
Confirm early whether a license is needed: To avoid unnecessary license applications and cases of being denied after applying without meeting the requirements, it is important to confirm in advance with a specialist whether a license is needed and what the requirements are.
Draw up a realistic business plan: Making the amount of capital or the size of the office larger than reality only increases costs. Starting at a realistic scale while meeting the visa review and license requirements raises cost-effectiveness. On the other hand, cutting costs too much can cast doubt on the reliability and continuity of the business and affect the visa review and negotiations with business partners. The important perspective for optimizing costs is not “cut where you can cut” but “spend appropriately where it is needed.”
You need to think not just of setup costs but of multiple items combined—office, visa, licenses, tax, and so on. So that you don’t end up saying “it cost more than I thought,” it is important to grasp the overall sense of cost at the pre-entry stage.
At Touch Immigration Law Firm, in our free initial consultation, we provide a guide to costs tailored to your business content, form of entry, and whether a visa is needed. If you “want to grasp the full picture of what costs how much” or “want to realize your expansion into Japan within budget,” please feel free to get in touch first. Grasping the cost outlook early is the first step to a smooth expansion into Japan. Note that because the cost guides differ greatly depending on the industry, the form of entry, and how you choose your specialists, we recommend confirming the specific amounts on an individual basis.
