I got into an argument with someone online who was claiming it is fine to work remotely for a foreign company while being in Japan as a tourist. Now I know what the law is, I know what Article 19 (1) says about “working” while in Japan as a Temporary Visitor. But they were saying it doesn’t apply to working remotely for a foreign company, etc. Basically interpreting the law for their own benefit.
I decided to contact the Japanese embassy in my country (Poland) seeing as I don’t know enough about Japanese law to argue about what i can do and cannot do, and any info I found online didn’t give a definitive answer or was straight up contradicting.
So, long story short, the lady on the phone from the Embassy of Japan in Poland said that it is completely fine to work remotely for a Polish company while being in Japan as a “Temporary Visitor” (basically the status you get when you visit the country, since Japan doesn’t require a visa from Polish citizens). When I brought up the law and what I read online she said that it was formulated long time ago and didn’t account for working remotely, but again, working remotely for a foreign company would be fine.
So now my question is: was she right? If she wasn’t can someone point me to a good resource on this, giving definitive answer about the legality of this? And if she wasn’t right can the embassy straight up give wrong info?
by mAndrrew
