Resources about starting your business in Japan

[Akatani]

Thanks Dr.!
I've sent you a pm.

[quedao]

Hi everyone,

Im also distributing goods from abroad, this is just a side business based on my hobby.
I havent incorporated yet but I do wonder what are the cost, pros and cons of incorporating or not and also going to the kabushiki or de godo kaisha

[KyushuWoozy]

Me and my wife recently started a travel agent (see signature). We've been operating since January this year. Happy to share any info I can.

[Tomthumb16]

I started my own bar/restaurant here four years ago(not for the faint hearted tbh!)
I found that the local 区役所 was a great (free) source of information and help.
These guys are really here to help you out, they also approved our business plan so the loan we got from the bank cut the interest rate from 1.6% to 0.4%.
That would be my first port of call.
Hope this helps.

[eagleyes]

Hi everyone,

great post. I am currently employed by a company but I would like to start small consulting business as sole proprietorship in parallel. I would like to know how do you make your invoices for your service and what kind of information is mandatory. Also, I'll be curious if you are using any kind of software to help you for the accounting part. Is anybody using Freee? This is quite famous software for accounting now in Japan for small and medium companies. It seems that they can do a lot of things automatically.

[KyushuWoozy]

>. I would like to know how do you make your invoices for your service and what kind of information is mandatory.

We just make ours manually using a basic pdf template we drew up, nothing fancy. I guess your small consulting business, like our small travel agent, won't have enough clients at the start to worry about needing an automated system.

Never really crossed my mind about 'mandatory' information. Just put date, name, amount, invoice number etc. Am I missing something?

Wish you good luck. What kind of consulting service will you offer?

[eagleyes]

Thanks for the reply. I will investigate and report here any findings.
I am planning consultancy in Project management and business strategy.

[mikeinjap]

Hi everyone,

great post. I am currently employed by a company but I would like to start small consulting business as sole proprietorship in parallel. I would like to know how do you make your invoices for your service and what kind of information is mandatory. Also, I'll be curious if you are using any kind of software to help you for the accounting part. Is anybody using Freee? This is quite famous software for accounting now in Japan for small and medium companies. It seems that they can do a lot of things automatically.

I know this threads a little old but I'd like to give my two cents.
I'm also employed by a Japanese company, we do a lot of localization of TV programs so we hire many voice talents and usually ask them to send us an invoice for their work. We also buy and sell TV programs internationally so we receive many invoices as well. It's nothing fancy really, every company has their own template, you can use any you find on the internet as the base.

The general flow usually goes something like this:
1. When we want to buy something, we first ask the seller for a Quote/Estimate of the goods or service, usually verbal but better on paper
2. We then send a Purchase Order Form to confirm the goods or service we want
3. The seller then sends us their Official Invoice (dated after the previous forms)
4. We go ahead and make the payment
5. The seller then send us the Receipt
The first 2 steps can probably be skipped for small businesses.

For our invoice, it has the following information (some might be obvious but I'm listing it all here):

• Company Logo

• Invoice Date

• Due Date

• Invoice No:

• To: (The company name/person who will be making the payment, their address and phone number)

• Description: (of the goods or service)

• Quantity/Unit:

• Amount:

• Tax (if any):

• Total:

• Payment Details, if by Bank Transfer: SWIFTCODE(If applicable), Account Name, Bank Name/Code, Branch Name/Code, Branch Address, Account Number

The formatting is up to you.
Hope this helps.

[eagleyes]

mikeinjap

I am also late but thanks for you input.

Yeah I also found out that the format is actually more free than what I thought.

Thanks again.

[esotEric]

Are there any books or online resources that people would recommend on this topic?

I went to my city's international center library. I found only two decades old books which were geared toward foreign companies trying to enter the Japanese market, which is not really what I wanted.