JAPAN BIZLAW LITE 4 GAIJIN
CORPORATE LAW
There are two main forms of corporations in Japan, the kabushiki kaisha ("kk") and the yugen gaisha. The standard prestigious form is the "kk" form as prestige concious Japanese tend to take rather literally the meaning of "yugen" which can loosely be translated as "limited." This is generally felt to mean the company is limited, or without bright prospects or capabilities. Being an advanced country the establishment of these companies are rather standardized and expeditious to establish. In fact, one can usually go to your friendly neighborhood stationery store and buy a box of forms necessary for setting up a company. I have done it. But even though I am an attorney (in USA) and thus understand the concepts, had lived for years in Japan and could read and write the language, it was quite an effort. It is highly recommended you get professional help. Costs for establishing a company in Japan (legal fees, etc) are not out of proportion to other costs of doing business in Japan. These days there are few restrictions on foreigners establishing corporations in Japan and I personally feel I have had less trouble with the government in Japan than in the USA. Japanese really do go out of their way to help, particularly Westerners, much more than they really have to.
Officially Japan has recently even been pushing for more foreign investment, with even Prime Minister Koizumi pitching ads for such investments. Although Japan has long had a remarkably low level of foreign investment, as Japan's economy has stagnated since the 1990s while China has enjoyed explosive growth heavily fueled by foreign investment, Japan may be altering its thinking somewhat.
From February, 2003 a new law in Japan, valid until 2008, permitted businesspeople to establish stock companies (kabushiki gaisha) or limited liability companies (yugen gaisha) with a paid up capital of only one yen. The one requirement is that they must make increases to the levels usually required, 10 million yen for stock companies and 3 million yen for limited liability companies within five years. If not they may be required to be liquidated or turned into an unlimited liability partnership. The government is trying its best to make it easy to do business and get the economy restarted. By September 2003 the number of company’s taking advantage of the new system had reached a mere 238 companies, but has since grown extremely rapidly.
There are two main forms of corporations in Japan, the kabushiki kaisha ("kk") and the yugen gaisha. The standard prestigious form is the "kk" form as prestige concious Japanese tend to take rather literally the meaning of "yugen" which can loosely be translated as "limited." This is generally felt to mean the company is limited, or without bright prospects or capabilities. Being an advanced country the establishment of these companies are rather standardized and expeditious to establish. In fact, one can usually go to your friendly neighborhood stationery store and buy a box of forms necessary for setting up a company. I have done it. But even though I am an attorney (in USA) and thus understand the concepts, had lived for years in Japan and could read and write the language, it was quite an effort. It is highly recommended you get professional help. Costs for establishing a company in Japan (legal fees, etc) are not out of proportion to other costs of doing business in Japan. These days there are few restrictions on foreigners establishing corporations in Japan and I personally feel I have had less trouble with the government in Japan than in the USA. Japanese really do go out of their way to help, particularly Westerners, much more than they really have to.
Officially Japan has recently even been pushing for more foreign investment, with even Prime Minister Koizumi pitching ads for such investments. Although Japan has long had a remarkably low level of foreign investment, as Japan's economy has stagnated since the 1990s while China has enjoyed explosive growth heavily fueled by foreign investment, Japan may be altering its thinking somewhat.
From February, 2003 a new law in Japan, valid until 2008, permitted businesspeople to establish stock companies (kabushiki gaisha) or limited liability companies (yugen gaisha) with a paid up capital of only one yen. The one requirement is that they must make increases to the levels usually required, 10 million yen for stock companies and 3 million yen for limited liability companies within five years. If not they may be required to be liquidated or turned into an unlimited liability partnership. The government is trying its best to make it easy to do business and get the economy restarted. By September 2003 the number of company’s taking advantage of the new system had reached a mere 238 companies, but has since grown extremely rapidly.
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