Seeking Advice: Setting Up a Business in Japan

Hello everyone.

Recently I started spreading a sport very well known in Europe, in Japan.

Starting as a hobby, after a successful crowdfunding campaign, I thought of using the funds to establish a business entity in Japan. I have studied various forms of companies in Japan a bit, and I’m not sure if I have identified the one that suits my case the most.

※ I currently live in Japan with a work visa, but I am married to a Japanese woman, so if I were to establish a company, I am aware that I would have to change my visa to a spousal or business one (probably the former).

My needs would be:

-Establish a corporate form in which – at least initially – I would be the only worker and which essentially pays me a salary to perform the following activities: instructor (of the sport), advertise the sport in Japan, organize events and relationships with other schools/academies worldwide (so it would pay for travel, equipment, etc. to do so)

-Being able to engage in various profitable activities, from course earnings to member fees to “let’s do a workshop at the temple staying there for a day”

-Other fairly standard things like a bank account in the company’s name, etc.

Initially, I was more inclined towards 個人事業 or non-profit (社団法人), but now I’m not so sure it’s the best solution. However, confusion increases if I look at models like KK 株式会社 or 合同会社, fundamentally what I understand less is the taxation level.

I have tried asking some professionals in Japan (行政書士), who theoretically should deal with these things daily, but they cannot give me sensible opinions, their intervention focuses more on “if you want to establish a 株式会社 we can prepare the necessary paperwork” and so on for other models, not being able to give me a professional opinion regarding the points I have listed…

Perhaps I have chosen the wrong professional figure to ask? If not a 行政書士 then who? a tax accountant?

I hope you can enlighten me, thank you!

by Liold91

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