Need general work advice / starting a business/corporate tax laws etc in Japan.

2 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Need general work advice / starting a business/corporate tax laws etc in Japan.**

   Hi guys

   First time posting. I’m just looking for general work advice for those familiar with Japanese business/tax laws etc.

   So about me. 35 yrs old living in Australia with my Japanese wife (40) of 8 years. We married at Fukuoka city hall where we created our family register.

   I have a stable and somewhat well-paying job here in Aus, and we’ve been saving up to buy our first house outright, probably in western Tokyo or Saitama, depending on what we can afford etc.

   But if my last experience from my working holiday in Osaka over 10 years ago is anything to go by, I distinctly remember how impossible it was to get a proper job. However, I wasn’t married and still a bit inexperienced professionally. Hopefully it should be easier this time around? Albeit I haven’t been properly studying Japanese for the last 10 years… so I’m probably only between N3~N4 with kanji being my major weakness. So I can probably rule out participating in the general Japanese jobs market in the short term, so I was hoping a couple years’ worth of immersion and actually studying might give me a fighting chance to catch up.

   So I was thinking my plan would be something like this: Since I’ve been working from home the last few years with my Aus company, i was hoping to continue this in Japan somehow (at least for the short term while I look for more stable employment). Though I’m aware it’s not that simple and I think i’ll end up with a second income tax bill from the Japanese gov. It was suggested by a possible future employer that I should start up my own Australian business, but again I think this won’t work within Japan, and will have to register my own Japanese business. Which I assume I can only do once I have my visa and physically in the country. Then on top of that I would have to figure out how to do all the corporate tax stuff as well as set up a new Japanese retirement fund + pay into the pension social security system, health insurance etc etc.

   Personally, I’m not the entrepreneur type (I’m just a dumb Mech Eng drafter) so I would rather avoid all this rigmarole if possible… So the question is; ‘is there an easier alternative’? Or any other alternatives for that matter? But I suppose convenience will come at a cost… $$$円円円

   Thanks guys.

   Brendan.

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2. I can’t comment on most of this as it’s not in my experience, but one option you put forward – working for an AU company from Japan – is unlikely to work. There are a lot of strict workplace laws in AU that many companies are unable to support even a wfh position to be happening overseas. Although, you could always check with your employer, but yeah just kinda unlikely.