Summary

It takes 10 procedures and 25 days to establish a foreign-owned limited liability company (LLC) in Tokyo, Japan. This process is in line with the IAB high-income OECD countries average and faster than the IAB global average. The 3 additional procedures required exclusively of foreign companies add only 3 days to the establishment process. A foreign enterprise must notarize the parent company’s documents (company register and signature certificate) in its country of origin. In addition, a foreign company must make a post facto investment declaration to the Bank of Japan for statistical purposes. If the nationality of the parent company does not qualify it for an automatic investment, approval is required before the subsidiary can be established. A prior filing requirement applies if the foreign investment is made in certain protected industries that are considered key to the economic and national security of Japan, as stipulated in Article 27 of the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act (Foreign Exchange Act). Foreign investors are subject to a waiting period while the government conducts its review of the investment (30 days, which can be shortened to 14 days, and in certain cases, 5 days according to a recent amendment of the Foreign Exchange Act). Business registration is possible online and submission forms are available for download. Foreign-owned subsidiaries are free to open and maintain bank accounts in foreign currency in Japan. However, they must report to the Bank of Japan if they have overseas deposits of more than JPY 100,000,000 (~ $1,000,000). The minimum paid-in capital requirement in Japan is a symbolic JPY 1.