Business formation for IT startup in Japan

Question

In Japan, what is a good approach to form a start-up business in terms of registering a company? Is there a type of company favoured by start-ups? What would it cost to set up a kabushiki kaisha or a godo kaisha respectively (incl. attorney's and other fees) and are there obvious pros & cons for either of the two?

We are a group of four Tokyo-based IT professionals (all prospective co-founders) from Japan, the United States, and Hong Kong. Thank you for your kind advice!

Answers: 2 public & 0 private

252cdef369
Patent Attorney

I would recommend to contact a judicial scrivener (not an attorney). I'm not an expert on this matter but can provide some input from my experience in financlal field. Although both types, kabushiki kaisha (KK) and godo kaisha (LLC), would be in similar legal positions (eg. limited liliability, tax system, etc), but most experts will more recommend to form a KK than an LLC unless the circumstances are exceptional. The particular advantages in setting up an LLC would be a much lower cost for setting up (maybe less than half) and a raletively flexible autonomy in an article of incorporation, for example. Just for yor information, the rough cost to set up a KK would be 200,000-300,000 JPY including an official fee of about 200,000-250,000 JPY. But a KK would be much appreciated in credit/trust in the Japan community so a KK has an obvious advantage in a bank credit, for example. Although a KK may be capitalized first at one JPY, but in light of the above (bank credit), its capital should be at a certain level. Thank you.

363d02364f
Lawyer

Hello, I wish you still looking for judicial scrivener in Japan. I have supported several foreigners to start business in Japan. I can provide legal and tax knowledge to operate your business in Japan. In your question, you are going to incorporate in Japan, but you can start business without legal entity. http://lawyerjapanese.com/

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